Clichés & Tropes
by Phantom Shyraz
Summary: KaiShin Drabble, all centered around clichés and tropes on TV and in stories. Suggestions welcomed.
1. Cliffhanger

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I know I should not start something new...but it's supposed to be drabble-like, allowing me to write short stories so...yea...If any of you readers have cliches/troupes, I'm all eyes.

* * *

 **01 Cliffhanger**

 _When people fall over the ledge, it is always possible to have them dangling off the hero's (weak) hold for hours on end until they've finished the conversation, whereby the hero would then easily haul them back to safety._

Let it never be said that acrobats do not have strength. Or that the only thing they have going for them is their flexibility. KID dares bystanders to say that to his face at this very moment as he lays on the ground, arms outstretched to hold tightly onto the slender hand.

"Don't let go." He ordered the detective who had this look in his eyes that hinted on some martyr, self-sacrificing notion running through his mind. "I don't want to break my own motto like this."

"But your injuries..." Just as the words left the (adorable) detective's mouth, a singular blood drop fell from the gash by his temples and landed on the detective's cheeks. "KID, please, just let go of me and escape yourself."

"Never!" KID gritted his teeth. Sweat and blood mixed as it ran down his face. Distantly, he heard an explosion coming from somewhere below. "Meitantei, you're not the type to waste a life, so you shouldn't write yourself off so soon."

KID took a deep breath before bracing himself for the pain (the somewhat dislocated shoulder is killing him at the moment but he would be damned if he gave up because of a little pain) before trying to lift the detective back to a height where said detective could take hold of the building roof's edge.

It took several tries for KID, relentless tugging and pulling, but finally he managed to pull the detective back into the relative safety of the burning down building.

"You're an idiot." The blue eyed detective muttered as he assess both their injuries. Although KID knew the Organisation Takedown would not be easy, he thought infiltration should result in less casualties. But here they are, both injured with blood soaking through their clothes, and a lack of escape routes.

The detective somehow managed to produce a small first aid kit and began treating KID. The lack of his top hat should have raised alarms but KID trusted the detective too much to even care. Also, KID knew the detective knew the value of secrets and would not be revealing this tidbit to anyone else.

"Are you a magician?" KID could not help but ask as he noticed how stocked the kit was. It should be difficult to hide such a kit but the detective managed to pull it out of nowhere.

"You're not the only one who knows how to hide things." He muttered securing the last of the bandages. Standing up, with a slight wobble of course, the detective surveyed his work. With a final nod, he declared it would be adequate enough to see them through their escape. "Now what?"

KID glanced around, locating the top hat immediately and placed it back on his head. With a confident smirk and a swish of his cape, he pulled the detective close so that their hips were touching. His arm wrapped snuggly around the detective's waist, and he pulled them towards another part of the roof. The look of alarm inside the bright blue orbs were soon replaced with surprise.

"Now? Let's get out of here!" Without warning, KID fell back off the building with the detective hanging onto his shoulders for his life. Part way down, KID released the glider and the soar through the night sky with the detective muttering half hearted curses at him.

To stop the detective from becoming too flustered, and seeing as there were no immediate obstacles in their flight path, KID took a moment to duck his head down and let his lips make brief contact with the detective's forehead. The detective shut up immediately and peered through his eyelashes, twin blue orbs twinkle in confusion and expectation.

"You're just too cute." KID could not help himself and dove down for another taste, only this time it was met by another pair of lips instead of clean skin. After a brief moment, the detective was the first to break contact.

"Just look for a place to land Idiot Thief."

"Reward me later?" Instead of a verbal reply, the detective managed to wiggle out a hand and slapped the thief in the face, not too hard that leaves a mark, but hard enough to sting a little. "Feisty."


	2. Request: Secrets

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Keep those suggestions coming~

The following is a request from a 'Guest'. I had to tweak it a bit seeing as there is a fic already on the same premise (read Luna Darkside's "Money, Notoriety, and Rivieras"). Original Request: "please write about kaito and shinichi being like super famous (magician, private investigator, actors, etc.) and their fans crazy on shipping them on tumblr and social media and then figuring out that the two have been married for a s*** load of time?"

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 **02 Guest Request: Secrets**

 _Famous personalities often have a hidden side, generally in the form of a secret relationship, and is often found out at the worst possible (or most embarrassing) moments._

The set was hot, the background showing a generic back alley scene, and cameras were trained on the two actors standing only centimeters apart. Both have near-identical features, though one was significantly more scruffy looking than the other. Shinichi wore a button-up shirt with his form-fitting jeans, Kaito, his direct opposite in character wore t-shirt with an obnoxious logo. Both faces were smeared with a good application of foundation powder, blush, and eyeliner. Their cheeks were done in a particularly heavy shade of pink, to accentuate their cheekbones and to exaggerate the situation.

"We really shouldn't..." Shinichi commented, eyes darting to the 'entrance' of the 'alleyway'. He had a hand on Kaito's chest, as though trying to push the other away. Only he looked too reluctant to do so.

"Well, too bad." The mischievous grin Kaito sent visible shivers through Shinichi's body. Kaito's face leaned in closer, their nose bare millimeters apart. "There's no better time than now." Kaito's hands played with the stiff collars of the shirt, tugging slightly to expose more of the pale neck. A small silver chain showed itself in the small space but Kaito quickly brushed it back into the folds of the fabric. It was only for a bare few seconds, not that many would notice. The accessory was not part of the official wardrobe but no one said anything.

"But...what if…" Frantic glances to the entrance made Shinichi expose more skin and flesh. Something flashed in Kaito's eyes, a dangerous and lusty gleam. White teeth exposed itself, showing the pointy incisors.

"Too late." White teeth sank into Shinichi's junction, who immediately looked as though the strings were cut. Shinichi sank into Kaito's strong hold, not resisting as a look of pure pleasure overcame his previous nervous face. A thin trail of red slowly flowed from where Kaito bit, staining the collar of his shirt.

"And….CUT!" The director called out from a distance. "Nice work."

Kaito removed himself from Shinichi, giving the other actor some space to move.

"Ow." Shinichi rubbed the neck area, hands smudging the twin red spots and smearing the dye. "Must you actually force yourself?"

"Hey, don't blame me. Blame Shiho for creating such realistic teeth." Kaito smiled, letting the elongated incisors show. "But they are quite well made." He pushed on the pointy end, which gave way as red dye slowly ebbed out of a small slit.

"Still…" Shinichi rubbed the area, the throb was still there. His hands brushed against the metal chain, pushing it away from the red dye and rubbing at it just in case the dye was caught in the links.

"Let me see." Kaito leaned in closer to take a look, carefully examining the spot and rubbing away the dye. "Doesn't look like I've pierced skin." His thumb gently massaged the area, to try and soothe out the ache. "I don't think I've even put enough force to bruise."

As the background staff bustled with the change of scenery, the director ushered the pair of actors back to the changing room to prepare for the next scene.

They continued the filming with a new wardrobe, this time with Shinichi in a high-neck shirt and Kaito in a rather fetching tuxedo. The scene was somewhat reminiscent of a Medieval castle, complete with chandelier and burning candles. Extras were also on the set, dancing across the large 'hall'.

Their day continued in much the same way as any other, them focused on filming littered with interviews and photo shoots. They barely had the time to themselves until they entered the shared penthouse apartment in an undisclosed location.

"Ugh…" Shinichi flopped down on the overly large black leather couch. It was only black out of practicality seeing as Kaito had insisted on purchasing a white one when they first moved in. On the side table stood an ornate silver frame of the photo featuring the pair of them in tuxedos, with Shinichi in the black and Kaito in the white. There was a sprinkling of confetti in the photo as the pair looked both embarrassed and ecstatic in front of a white chapel framed with pale blue and white garland flowers.

Kaito approached Shinichi, positioning himself to give his partner a nice massage.

"It wasn't that bad now was it?" Though they both entered the penthouse together, they actually had separate jobs beforehand.

"You try fielding nosy interviewers." Shinichi rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"You poor thing. Let me ease your troubles." Kaito leaned in, brushing a chaste kiss on the corner of the mouth, tongue licking at the corner as he left. "However, dinner first."

"You like tormenting me don't you?" Shinichi turned around, arms resting on the back of the couch.

Kaito laughed gleefully, skipping towards their kitchen to prepare a simple meal.

The next morning, the pair had another interview booked together. An internet movie review channel had invited them and their agents insisted the pair to attend and promote the upcoming film. It was supposed to be a live show, with comments continuously coming in as the video streamed on social media.

"Now, about this film. I heard there were some rather juicy scenes." The interviewer wiggled her eyebrows. "So? Can the two of you give us any clues?"

"Well…" Shinichi glanced over at Kaito, hands scratching at the back of his neck. It was an act, they know how much to disclose but they still needed to pretend.

"Let's just say the audience would not be left for want." Kaito flashed a beaming smile, first at the interviewer than at Shinichi. "We've been quite busy filming you see. The film is definitely not what many expect." With a flick of his wrist a white rose appeared on his left hand with an accompanying glint of silver metal.

The interviewer's eyes were sharp, taking notice of the glint immediately.

"And are these clothes the wardrobe your characters wear?" She asked, eyes zooming into the hand.

"Oh?" Kaito looked between the interviewer than at himself, not noting anything in particular. "Yes and no I guess. Wouldn't want to give too much away now."

"Hm…" Her eyes scrutinized them. Her helper on the other side of the camera gestured frantically, the message was for the interviewer to check the comments. "Oh? It seems there's an interesting comment here. Say Shinichi-kun, would you mind turning your head just slightly to the left?"

Shinichi creased his brows but did as he was told.

"Yes, like that. Angle it...let's see...30 degrees?"

It was a strange request but Shinichi complied.

"Yup. It's definitive then!" She exclaimed. "Here, the commenter had asked ' _that's a lovely mark on the left side of the neck, is that tattoo part of the character as well?_ ' so I just had to check. But it seems the commenter has revealed a rather nice gem. Say Shinichi-kun, who's the lucky individual?"

"What?!" Shinichi's hands quickly covered the area, eyes asking for a mirror. Kaito answered his request and produced a small handheld mirror with a puff of smoke, holding it upright for Shinichi to use. When he removed his hand, there was a purple-ish red-ish mark, rather small but still very noticeable. "KAITO!"

"What?" Kaito's indigo eyes looked at the spot, it was slightly higher than the area he bit yesterday during the scene, "it's not my doing. See? There's no puncture..." Kaito poked at the spot, only stopping mid-action with his mouth opened in a perfect 'O'.

"Now you realised what you've done?!" Shinichi wanted to find something to cover up the mark, the hickey was too obvious. Unfortunately, he was not dressed in his usual shirt attire, taking the more casual route of long-sleeved wide neck plain t-shirt underneath a simple vest.

"Say, Shinichi-kun," the interviewer interrupted, "you're not the type to wear jewellery, at least according to the many blogs that your fans have written and the official blog from your agent."

"Uh…" His hands moved an inch to cover up the silver gleam of the necklace with its pendant hidden underneath the shirt. He knew what direction the interviewer was taking.

"And Kaito-kun, neither do you for that matter." The interviewer's eyes glittered in anticipation. "And you did say, in your Twitter, that anything worn on the hand and arm usually restricted your performances as magicians rely a lot on their hands…?"

Kaito quickly covered up the left hand with his right. Hoping the action was not caught on camera.

"Here's another comment: ' _Isn't that Bulgari's design?_ ' So Kaito-kun, would you like to show us?" Pure, unadulterated glee emanated from the interviewer in strong waves.

The pair turned to each other, both had the same nervous look on their eyes.

"Someone posted a rather nice photo on Facebook as well. Commenting that ' _It's not a scene_ ' even though it is clearly from the set. The pair of you were filming yesterday weren't you? And I think your fanclub blogs said selected members were invited on set yesterday?"

Shinichi laughed weakly. It was true that his agent invited members of the official fanclub yesterday, he believed it was because they won a competition or something. He was not too sure about Kaito's fanclub but by the look on his face, it seems that it was true for him as well.

"Oh, there's another tagged photo replying that." The interviewer showed the camera and the pair of them a photo of a street, where the pair just stepped out of a jewelry store with a single ornate paper bag between them and a happy smile on their face. "The commenter wanted to know which line of jewelry was picked."

"Uh…" Both were speechless. On the side table, both their phones vibrated at the same time. The caller id both read 'Agent'. They gulped harshly.

"Another comment is interesting. The commenter said they saw you two in the Arima Osen area during Golden Week a couple of days ago, saying ' _I thought I was mistaken but they really looked like Kudo Shinichi and Kuroba Kaito. They just stepped out of the private onsen together, so close! Too bad I didn't have my phone with me at the time but they looked re~ally cute~!_ ' and the pair of you did post in your Twitter saying neither of you would be in Tokyo, saying you're taking a bit of time out for an actual holiday?"

"You shouldn't believe everything on the Internet these days…" Shinichi tries weakly. It was a poor excuse but he had to do something to diffuse the situation.

Their phones stopped buzzing for a fraction of a second before it started again. It was still their agent calling.

"A fresh comment, oh it seems it's from your agents. ' _You Mystery Otaku! Pick up your phone! I can see you clearly here!_ ' and Kaito, it seems your agent is rather...well, I'll let you interpret ' _I'm putting piranhas in your bed!_ '"

"Ahahahaha….I think our interview slot is nearly up?" Kaito offered but without waiting for the interview to do the closing, he grab hold of Shinichi and ran out the studio.

"Well folks, I guess this is quite a definitive answer for our age old question whether all those _partnerships_ and _co-starring_ meant anything~ Stay tune, Like and Follow us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll be putting up a poll on the most likely date for the pair of them to hitch up! Leave your comments below and if we have more than 100k likes for this video alone, we'll invite the pair of them back here and we'll have a more in-depth discussion!"


	3. Request: Accidents

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Yay Suggestions!

The following is a suggestion from reader Lily "Kaito and Shin-chan for some unfortunate reason always ending up in suggestive poses. Like, Kaito tripping and falling on top of Shin-chan or accidentally walking in the unlocked bathroom while the other is taking a bath or changing clothes...and these usually happen in front of their friends or acquaintances so Shin-chan is usually a blushing tsundere and proceed to run/hit/slap Kaito even though the poor guy doesn't do these things on purpose."

Although I must admit, I don't know how to write a Tsundere character...So...hopefully it answered the request.

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 **03 Lily Request: Accidents**

 _Accidents would happen at the most inopportune times, resulting in some unforgettable moments. Not to forget, accidents never happens just once._

Early morning in the Kudo household, one Kudo Shinichi woke up to the incessant chirping just outside his window. He had half a mind to tranquilize the birds so he could sleep in a few more minutes before having to brave the early morning. Unfortunately, he only had limited darts and there were too many birds to subdue. Groaning, he pushed off the blankets and took.

Shinichi was not sure whether he was prepared for the day. He had promised Ran that he would attend this weekend trip to the mountain retreat. He was not the only one invited by the young Suzuki heiress. A certain Osaka couple were also coming, albeit arriving later than they would, to the retreat along with their newly formed friends (not really 'new' for Shinichi per-se seeing as he had met them as Conan and was a rather well acquaintance with one of them even though said acquaintance constantly denied certain accusations and subsequently denied Shinichi's/Conan's friendship). Rubbing his messy head of bed hair, he decided not to think too deeply as it was beginning to give him a headache just trying to figure out how familiar he should act towards these 'new' friends.

With another glance (read: glare) at the clock, which said a time that had Shinichi wincing. 6:30 in the morning is not a normal wake-up time for Shinichi, he unconsciously began to calculate the amount of caffeine required to last him through the day, which happens to be somewhere between one cup every thirty minutes to 'too many to count' per hour.

At 7AM, his mobile buzzed noisily. Shinichi answered with a tired " 'ello?"

"Shinichi, you better be awake." Ran sounded annoyed. It was not a surprise seeing as Shinichi was often late for various outings. It was more deliberate on Shinichi's part to be late in most occasion as he really (REALLY) did not wish to go out. He figured the less he stepped out of the house, the fewer crimes he would encounter. Not that this particular bit of logic made any sense at all but it was the only explanation he had for stumbling on to way-too-many crimes.

"I am. Give me five minutes and I'll be out." He guessed Ran would be waiting outside for her ride to the retreat.

It had been way too long since Shinichi last drove a car. He had the license, converted from his American license to Japanese license, but in Tokyo, driving was not really needed (not to mention most of the time, the Police would give him a lift to wherever he had to be when needed, which happens to be crime scenes more than anything). He had managed to find his father's car from days-gone-by, thankfully it could still run even if it does look a bit old school.

Out in the entrance, Ran looked expectantly at Shinichi with her daybag resting by her legs. In her hand held a small takeaway sandwich along with two cans of coffee.

"You're a lifesaver." He made a motion for the coffee, only to have the sandwich pushed into his hands.

"Eat that first. Then I'll let you have coffee." Ever since Shinichi told her about the whole Conan incident, she took it upon herself to continually look after her 'younger brother' (it was a surprise that she did not smash his face into concrete after he told her). Obediently, he ate the sandwich, bites normally bigger than usual as he really wanted the coffee.

After finishing the quick breakfast (he wished Ran would have stormed into the house and made him something warm, but he guessed she really wanted to leave) he climbed into the driver's seat. Ran took the seat next to him as he set up the GPS on the small stand on the dashboard.

"I'll call ahead now, they'll meet us at the front gates." Ran did not bother to look up from her phone, scrolling through the contacts. Shinichi decided to turn out of the driveway instead of paying attention, careful to follow the GPS instructions. They arrived at Ekoda in no time, Shinichi parked in parallel to the fence of the two houses. Their look alikes stood at the front.

"Good morning Ran-chan!" Ran's female look alike greeted all too enthusiastically, waving as Ran stepped out from the car. Shinichi's counterpart, on the other hand, looked like he had just wrestled with his bed as his hair stuck up in all too many directions. "Come on Kaito, where are your manners?"

"Right, right." Kaito yawned, "G'mornin' to you Mouri-chan, Kudo."

Aoko was quick to remedy Kaito's manners with a rather loud thwap to the back of his head.

"Aoko~!" Kaito whined, rubbing the back of his head to soothe the pain.

"Manners!"

"Fine." He pouted for a second before turning it into a rather bright and cheerful smile. He bowed and with flourish, offered a pair of roses to Ran and Shinichi. "Nice to see you two so bright and early in the morning."

Ran giggled, taking the yellow rose and tucking it behind her ear. Shinichi decided to let the magician keep the pink rose and turned to help Aoko with the various plastic bags and their daybag. Even though Sonoko had offered their family's villa, they had to provide for their own food and entertainment. Another reason why Shinichi had been roped to drive (it seems that all the detectives were tasked with bringing in supplies, with the English blond detective in charge of the bulk of drinks, the Osakan detective was sent to pick up a cake before he arrive, and the female detective was in charge of bringing the DVDs and CDs).

Their seating changed slightly during this stop, with Ran taking the back seat along with Aoko. Kaito decided to sit at the passenger seat, though his curiosity often had him leaning back to talk with the girls seeing as Shinichi was too busy with his eyes on the road to keep up a constant conversation.

Shinichi had reminded the magician that the seatbelt was meant to be worn snuggly across the torso, not pulled away from the body so that he could turn to talk with the rear passengers. Shinichi had even said that he could pull over so Kaito could sit at the back, to which the magician declined and insisted everything would be fine.

As the conversation continued around Shinichi, to which he only paid half an ear and rarely chipped in his two cents, a car suddenly corralled out from an alleyway, straight in their direction. With quick reaction, Shinichi turned the wheel sharply, bringing everyone to fall right. Things tumbled inside the car, with the luggage rolling about in the trunk and the plastic bags of food and grocery scattered about the floor. The girls gave a surprised squeal, Ran pushing hard onto Aoko's shoulder and squeezing her into the window pane.

"Sorry about that." Ran apologised as she straightened up now that Shinichi had once more stabilised the vehicle.

"No worries." Aoko was bending over to gather the oranges that had escape the bag. She looked up, seeing Kaito who had fallen over onto Shinichi's lap, face dangerously close to a particular part of the male anatomy. She raised an eyebrow and nudged at Ran.

Kaito was about to lift himself up when Shinichi glanced down, seeing a lap full of the magician's hair. His eye twitched ever so slightly as his hands tightened around the wheel.

"Ah...sorry." Kaito had a hand resting on Shinichi's thigh, inner thigh to be exact. He carefully tries to extract himself from the current situation.

"Ku-Kuroba…" Shinichi could feel the heat rising up his cheeks. Unfortunately, he had been too distracted to take note of the GPS instructions. A voice suddenly alarmed them, telling Shinichi to take a right turn within the next 3 meters. Shinichi hurriedly turned the wheel and the car swerved once more.

"Wah-!" Kaito's hand slipped from its position on the thigh, sliding down underneath Shinichi's other thigh. His face landed straight down onto Shinichi's groin area. If Shinichi concentrates, he swears he could feel the warm heat from the magician's breath.

"You-!" By that point, Kaito was hurriedly trying to scramble back up to his seat. "Idiot! I told you not to do that!" Without taking his eyes off the road, Shinichi tries to hit the magician with his hand, or slapping him…something akin to slapping at least seeing as said magician managed to avoid a majority of the hits.

At the back seats, the girls laughed at the embarrassed display. The had a clear view of the rear view mirror, which reflected the bright pink face of the detective's cheeks.

Thankfully, the rest of the drive continued without much incident. Though the magician had stayed quite still in his seat for the 30 minutes ride, not once did he lean back to contribute to the conversation, or even struck up a conversation. When they arrived at the villa, Shinichi pointed towards the trunk, to which Kaito obediently went to retrieve the bags. It seems he was trying to make it up to the detective through physical tasks.

Sonoko was quick to direct them upstairs, pointing at two rooms on the left.

"These will be your rooms. You'll be sharing a bathroom in the middle, accessible by the door from inside your bedrooms." She ushered them into their respective rooms before stating, "better be quick to unpack. We're heading down to the village for dinner. Apparently they're having a festival now and we all want to go."

"By 'all', you mean you made sure every one of us would go." Shinichi pointed out, earning him a harsh glare and an equally hard hit on his shoulders.

"You of all people needed to go out more. If Ran had not gone to drag you out of the large haunted house, you'd be growing mold in there." She pushed Shinichi into the bedroom. "Now hurry up! No more dwaddling."

Sighing, Shinichi placed his bag by the end of the bed, opening the curtains and checking the lock on he window, which was more of a paranoia habit than the need for sunlight in the room. The bed is spacious, there was a small dresser by the side of the window and a larger wardrobe near the door leading to the shared bathroom. Curiosity bit into Shinichi and he opened the bathroom door, the same time the door directly opposite of his opened.

Shinichi's brows twitched. He looked down at the handles of his door, grateful that there was a sturdy lock on it. The magician smirked, possibly knowing Shinichi's line of thought.

"Don't you dare Kuroba." He warned in advance.

"Why, I have not idea what you are trying to say." His tone of voice, however, was anything but innocent. Shinichi reminded himself to find a chair and block the door before he slept, just in case.

That night, the whole group of them walked towards the small village just 15 minutes away from the villa. They made for quite a noisy group, with Hattori and Hakuba arguing every step of the way. Apparently, their respective girlfriends found it too bothersome to try and stop the arguing and instead resigned to leaving them growling at each other. Even Ran, ever the peacemaker, gave up on her third try and walked beside Sera, Shinichi and the still grinning magician who had dyed the two bickering detectives without them knowing.

The walk was pleasant, with wind just cool enough to ward off their sweat and the path relatively even.

"Oof." Ran stumbled on a stray stone, crashing into Sera's back. The female detective managed to catch Ran in a rather strong hold, even though she stumbled on the impact as well.

"You alright Ran?" She asked. Shinichi was immediately by Ran's side to help the girl back to her feet.

"Yea…" However, the wince in her face said otherwise.

"Let me see." Shinichi was quick to kneel down and take hold of Ran's feet. Ran tries to argue, even managed to land a soft hit on Shinichi's head, but Shinichi preserved and lifted her ankle up. "It doesn't look twisted, might just be a strain. If you want…"

"I can carry you." Sera interjected before Shinichi could even suggest otherwise. He glanced over at the girl, noting the determined look in her eyes.

"No, really. I'll be fine…" But Sera was not having any of it and kneeled down, a motion for Ran to climb onto her back.

Shinichi found it strange to see the girl, barely taller than Ran, giving his childhood friend a piggyback ride into the village. He had mixed feelings as well, seeing someone he once loved with all his heart being so blatantly courted by someone of the same gender.

But before he could ponder further on what it meant, he felt something crash into him as well. A heavy warm weight pushed him down onto the pebbled path, sending him sprawling down and knocking on Hattori and Hakuba who had immediately stopped their argument. Upon instinct, Shinichi tried to catch the falling weight and prevent unnecessary injury by using his own body as a cushion. As a result, his back is now currently subjected to the numerous little pebbles digging into his flesh.

"Ugh. You alrigh-" Shinchi had thought it was Sera who crashed into him, a major reason why he used his own body as a cushion, because it was possible for the girl to become unbalanced with Ran's added weight. However, in reality it was a certain scruffy-haired magician who knocked him over. Behind the magician stood one Nakamori Aoko with her hands on her hips and a rather large scowl on her face, clearly visible even with the dim lighting.

"Sorry 'bout that." The magician lifted slightly from his position. He had managed to box Shinichi in using both his hands. His whole body laid directly on top of Shinichi's, straddling over Shinichi as he tries to sit up. The magician was suddenly aware of their position and began sitting up, or more appropriately he then become seated on Shinichi's hips as he lifted himself up. Shinichi could feel the weight resting on his lower abdomen as the magician moved back to free his own legs.

As the magician shuffled slowly, Shinichi could feel his body (and certain parts of his anatomy) responding to the movement.

"Say…" The strange gleam in the magician's eyes clued Shinichi in on what he wanted to say. His face flushed with embarrassment at his body's reaction, which he blamed on the prolonged exposure to the APTX poison that had repressed a large amount of his teenage hormone and is now in the process of being exposed in the open.

"IDIOT!" Shinichi kicked, somewhat hard but at least he did not have those kick-enhancing shoes from his Conan-days, which landed in the magician's groin. He quickly scrambled up and stomped away, ignoring the whimper behind him. As Shinichi passed Hattori, he heard a snicker.

"Nice." Came the Osakan's comment with a pat on Shinichi's back.

The rest of the journey was made with Kaito pouting and bemoaning at his predicament interspaced with mentions of "Shinichi is a meanie" and "I demand compensation". Dinner then became a teasing affair with Aoko poking fun at Kaito and Sonoko commenting on how close Ran and Sera was seating, even though the pair vehemently denied any sort of claims. It was a reminder for Shinichi of his high-school days where he and Ran would deny much in the same way. It was then he realised what a parallel it was and he wondered whether he should just clue the pair in on their feelings or if he should leave them be.

By the end of dinner, Sera insisted to head back to the villa first stating she wanted to bring her bike over to give Ran a lift. Ran's face suddenly grew more pink-ish, not so much as flushing or blushing but it was clear Sera's words had some effect on the strong Karate master. Sonoko nodded approvingly before sending Shinichi a glare.

"Alright, Makoto-san and I will stay with Ran, the rest of you go to the Shrine first and scout ahead. I hear there's going to be a performance by the Shrine maidens and I want good seats!" The other two girls seemed to have picked up on a hidden message that none of the boys were able to decipher, and ushered the rest of their group out of the restaurant.

"Sonoko, maybe I should stay with Ran. After all, you were the one who wanted to come…" Shinichi volunteered but his words were met with a defiant "NO!" By all the girls except Ran. Shinichi frowned as the magician pulled him out of the restaurant and into the direction of the Shrine.

There were various stalls set up on the two sides of the brick pavement in front of the main shrine building. The group of friends walked purposefully down the path, eyes drawn to the colourful stalls. They tried on masks, ate cotton candy despite having quite a full dinner beforehand, thrown hoops at targets and won several small prizes. They had fun, until a certain magician screamed when they passed by a particular games stall.

He backed away from the plastic tub, turning quickly to escape from looking at those bug-eyed marine creatures. His escape was unfortunately blocked by a certain neat-haired detective.

"Omph." Once again, Shinichi had the air knocked from him. He fell on his backside, landing hard on the floor. Above him, the magician was trying to scramble away. His uncoordinated movement only made his escape slower. Every time he tries to move away, he inevitably had himself tangled up in with Shinichi's jacket or his own jacket, making him fall flat onto Shinichi. The magician's latest attempt had him sitting on Shinichi's face.

"Ge'-off." Came Shinichi's muffled complaint. His mouth moved against the soft fabric of the magician's pants.

"Eep!" The magician managed to crawl farther away from both Shinichi and the games stall in question. Their so-called friend were all snickering, though at least Aoko looked concerned enough to enquire about Kaito's mental health.

When Shinichi managed to sit up again, he heard sounds of muffled laughter. Turning around, he saw how Hattori tries to disguise his laughs as coughs behind his cotton candy.

"Hattori…" In the Osaka's other hand was his smartphone, pointing directly at Shinichi's direction.

"Couldn't 'elp it Kudo. 'Sides, ya'face is jus' priceless!" Hattori turned the phone over to reveal a rather red-faced Shinichi, eyes blown wide and face in an imitation of a tomato. Shinichi returned with a glare, and made an attempt to grab the smartphone.

The rest of the night was not without further incidents, though it was not as traumatising as Shinichi. There had been a rather competitive game between Hattori and Hakuba, instigated because the two girls wanted a prize from the stall, involving shooting at moving targets. In the end neither won, which left the two girls with a small pout. Shinichi decided to be a nice person and paid 500 yen for a small dish of pallets and proceeded to shoot the targets required for the price. The two girls beamed at him when he handed over the two stuffed toys.

And as with all Shinichi's outing, no time away from home would be complete without the customary stumble-across-a-crime, which happened to be a pickpocket on his way to escape. With a well placed foot, a long length of string, and some well placed firecrackers, the pickpocket was quickly apprehended by a rather inventive magician, who had the perpetrator wrapped up in ribbons.

The Shrine Maiden's dance was awe inspiring and Shinichi could barely take his eyes away from the stage. Their night ended with everyone quite satisfied, even Ran and Sera had a great time themselves in the Villa (though Shinichi vowed to never enter the room directly after knocking. He had wanted to give Ran a stuffed toy he won at the shooting game but walked into the two girls sharing a rather intimate moment. Needless to say, he stumbled out of the room with a red face and filled with muttered apologies).

It was decided the next day would involve hiking and they would start the day early. Shinichi's alarm clock sounded at an unearthly time. He yawned, still half asleep, and struggled out of bed. The sun was barely up and a rather dim light filtered through the curtains. Picking up his clothes, he headed for the bathroom. The nice hot shower woke him quite significantly but it would be a lot better if he had coffee.

Coming out of the showers, he made a motion to grab for the towel hanging on the side when he heard the sound of the door opening. Shinichi glanced over at the door leading from his room and found it was still closed. He frowned, wondering why there were sounds. It was then his brain reminded him that this was a shared bathroom and that there was another set of doors leading into the room. Shinichi had only locked the door from his end and forgot all about it.

Shinichi was frozen in mid-action when a head of scruffy hair and indigo eyes appeared inside the bathroom. He had just stepped out of the showers, naked and dripping with water, steam could only do so much at covering the human body.

"Good morni-" The magician was unable to finish the sentence as a towel was thrown at his face, followed by a bar of soap, a shampoo bottle, a conditioner bottle, a bathtub plug, and a sponge.

"OUT!" Shinichi will never admit that he had squealed but the others sharing the Villa swore they heard loud squealing that morning.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" The magician made a hasty exit but paused before fully closing the door. "Um...do you need the towel?"

"OUT!"

For the whole day, Shinichi's face was red. Constantly. Even though the magician apologized numerous times.

"Look, Kudo..." The magician had managed to corner Shinichi to a one-on-one conversation at the top of the mountain. It was strange how all of their friend suddenly found a secret viewing location or suddenly needed the bathroom that left only Shinichi and the magician standing on the cliff overlooking the small village below. Shinichi did enjoy the view, but it would have been more enjoyable if he did not have to hide himself from the magician.

"Why you…" Shinichi immediately sunk into the ground, taking a seat on the cliff. "I could have lived with it if it weren't you who opened the door…"

"I'm...sorry?" He sounded confused.

"Anyone else would have been less embarrassing…" Shinichi tries to bury his face in his hands, only to be stopped by the magician who had taken a seat next to him.

"I truly doubt that. Think how the girls would reaction, how Sonoko-chan would react!" The magician tries to make light of the situation. "I don't think you'd be able to live with it."

"She'd ask if I had been working out lately, Ran would comment I'm just too thin, Sera would ask me when I got a majority of my scars from, and I highly doubt Sonoko would have me sharing a bathroom with Nakamori-chan." Shinichi stated logically. "You on the other hand, you'd try to make fun of the situation…"

"I would never do that." He took hold of both Shinichi's hands, grasping at them tightly but at the same time holding onto his hands as though they were fragile. "I'd never made fun of you or expose you like that. You're important and I'd never do something that would cause you such harm."

"What do you mean?" This time, it was Shinichi was was confused and curious.

"You're important. Special. Not something to be made fun of. I...it's…" Lost for words, the magician suddenly realised his position and action and quickly let go of the hand. "Sorry. I mean...I think...Aren't the others supposed to meet us here for picnic?" The magician stood up quickly, moving away from Shinichi and abruptly changing the topic.

"Wait-" Shinichi stood up just as quickly. He had to walk several steps in order to grab ahold of the magician's swaying hand. It seems Shinichi's quick movement was unexpected by the magician, who quickly lost momentum at Shinichi's tug. He fell on top of Shinichi once more, though this time Shinichi had expected the fall. Instead of pushing the magician off, he made sure to wrap an arm around the waist and trap the magician in his hold. "Explain." He demanded.

"Nothing. It's nothing. Nothing to explain." It was clearly denial, that there was something bothering the magician. "Now let me go."

"No." Shinichi stared up at the indigo eyes, mind wondering whether the magician had always had such captivating eyes.

"It's really nothing." He insisted. "Nothing to concern yourself about. And even if it were, it's something stupid that should you should never bother asking me..."

Shinichi realised the magician tended to ramble when cornered and nervous, perhaps it was a side-effect of holding his emotions at bay constantly.

"...I don't want to bother you with something so trivial. It's not a problem you shoul-"

Not wanting to hear any more, and wanting to quickly get to the bottom of the magician's nervous ranting, Shinichi did the only thing to stop the mouth from voicing any further words. He used his own lips to shut the magician up. Seeing as the magician was in mid speech, his mouth was opened and allowed Shinichi to slip in his tongue. He wanted to say it was unintentional but his tongue was drawn in by the slight sweetness lingering at the edge of the lips and on the other's tongue.

Once Shinichi felt the magician melt into his hug, he pulled away. The magician's lips looked quite swollen with a sheen on the pink lips. Eyes looked entirely too dilated that made the indigo colour look dark.

Just as Shinichi was about to further question the magician, their friends arrived at the scene. Shinichi saw how everyone froze, eyes wide and mouth opened.

"Maybe we should go to the bathroom again." Ran was the first to recover and tugged Sera and Sonoko back down the path they came from. Hattori was still frozen stiff when he was forcefully pulled from his position. Hakuba managed to unfreeze himself quite quickly and apologized as he tugged at Aoko next to him to give them a private moment.

"Ok, now without witness. Care to tell me what you mean?"

"Um...can I not?" The magician tried evading and escaping. But Shinichi held firm. "Alright, alright. I admit. I see you more than a friend. And because you're more than a friend, I don't want to hurt you or make fun of you. Happy?"

"Humph. Now that wasn't too hard now was it?" Shinichi let himself smirk.


	4. Bulletproof

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: A short one this time since I'm too busy these past few weeks (make that months).

* * *

 **04 Bulletproof**

 _Whenever the protagonist of a story is shot (by bullet, arrows, or any sort of projectile) they would always survive through miraculous means, mostly through well placed objects in the pockets or a nifty invention by the resident scientist._

"NO!" Shinichi called out as he saw the red laser dot appeared on the pristine white suit. He ran towards the thief, diving to push KID underneath him. He felt something make an impact on his back as he tumbled on top of KID. Several more impacts were made onto his back even as he tries to hold the thief down and prevent sighting from the sniper faraway.

"Meitantei!" KID exclaimed, hands busily trying to push Shinichi off but he held firm and covered the white body with his. The suit is too visible and KID would make an excellent target under the full moon's light and Shinichi was not about to let it happen on his watch.

Still, several shots from a high velocity sniping rifle is leaving behind rather nasty after effects. First being the continuous stream of pain.

"Come on, stay with me! Don't move towards the light in that dark tunnel! Follow my voice and come back!" For some odd reason, with KID's struggles, they managed to move to a shadowy corner of the rooftop where Shinichi finally let KID rise from his lying down position. He, himself, did not have the strength to move just yet, needing time to recover from those impacts.

"I'm fine KID." He said softly, accompanied by a cough. It hurts to breath, it hurts to cough, but at least he was not coughing up blood. Despite what cinema dictates, a shot to the torso does not always result in coughing up blood.

"No you're not! That was stupid, trying to cover for me!" KID immediately turned Shinichi over, using his white jacket as a pillow for him. "Let me see."

"I said I'm fine." He tries to turn back only for firm hands to hold him down. Shinichi mused at the reverse of tide where just moments ago he was the one holding down the thief, and it was not even for arresting him.

"Stay Still!" There was something in those violet eyes that had Shinichi pinned to his position. "I want to check for damage."

"It's not that bad you know." Shinichi coughed again, chest aching and cough coming out scratchy. He felt hurried hands pushing up his jacket and shirt, he shivered slightly as cool wind touched his skin.

"...Wh-wha?!" KID looked incredulously between the back and Shinichi's face. "But...how?"

"The Professor's new invention." Shinichi struggles to sit up, hand immediately on his own shoulder as though such an action can soothe away the pain on his back. "Bulletproof jacket, though it's still in development so it had not absorbed all the shock. But at least it stopped the bullet." He tried to rotate his shoulder only to hiss loudly, "I think I'll have nasty bruises come evening, possibly a slight fracture as well if I'm unlucky." Shinichi tries to glance backwards to assess for damage, but the human neck was not made to turn a full 360.

"You…" KID gently brushed a gloved hand on his cheeks, forcing Shinichi to look at his direction. "You scared me…" He whispered softly, fingers tracing the bottom of Shinichi's eyes.

"I'm a tough one you know." He tries to alleviate the tension.

"I know, but it's still scary." KID leaned his forehead in, so the pair of them were touching. "I don't want you to pay for my life."

"It's in my job description to save everyone." Shinichi whispered back in the exact same volume, as though the raise of voice could break this strange atmosphere. It felt right for KID to look at him as though he was something precious, it felt like this was what the world was meant to be, the pair of them should be able to look at each other and see past lies and masks.

"But not at such a high cost." Another hand came up to cup Shinichi's face as KID moved slightly out so that they can look into each other's eyes. "I don't like it when you dive into danger like that."

"Then protect yourself better, don't make yourself a target for them." Shinichi knew about the snipers, at least he had noticed their presence at heists. He might not have all the intel but he had enough to conclude that KID is constantly targeted. "You're...I still need to apprehend you." He said weakly, not buying into his own reasoning.

The smirk on KID's face told Shinichi that he too was not buying into the lie. "Thank you." He said with understanding. Their lips touched briefly afterwards, the moment was so short that Shinichi thought he had dreamt the whole thing. The moment their lips parted, KID disappeared and the only evidence of his being in Shinichi's close proximity was the gem in Shinichi's pockets.

"I'll catch you…" Shinichi muttered in the night. "And you won't be able to escape then.


	5. Grocery

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: A double release because I feel guilty for staying silent for this long.

* * *

 **05 Grocery**

 _Whenever someone buys something from the supermarket, they always return with at least a loaf of bread (mostly French bread), some sort of leafy green vegetable (cabbage, broccoli), and a couple of fruit (apple, orange) held inside a brown paper bag._

Kaito let out a loud "Tadaima~" to announce his return. Shinichi immediately replied with a distracted "Okaeri" from somewhere deep within the Kudo mansion.

Re-adjusting his bag of groceries, Kaito went to the kitchen to begin sorting through the foodstuffs. None too soon, Shinichi entered the space, one hand holding a book (which no doubt he had been reading just moments ago), and another already wrapping itself around Kaito's waist.

"So what did you buy?" Shinichi hooked his head over Kaito's shoulder, which prompted Kaito to turn over to give his lover a kiss. A small blush appeared in response, something that Kaito adored. It seems that small gestures of love would result in such a reaction from the otherwise stoic detective.

"Oh you know, the usual." Kaito rummaged through the brown paper bag.

"The...usual…" There was something akin to a sigh at the hesitation in Shinichi's voice that had Kaito turning around from his sorting.

"Why? Is something the matter?" Cocking his head to the side, Kaito did not understand why Shinichi was feeling so resigned.

Slender hands reached out and into the brown bag only to produce a head of cabbage, bright green and fresh, several red apples, and a long baguette. "The usual." The accompanying sigh was extremely deep and heavy.

"But isn't this what is expected in our groceries? Bread and vegetables."

"Yea...but…" Shinichi turned his head over to the bread box, still with a quarter loaf of baguette. Next to it sat a fruit bowl still full of red apples. There was no need for Kaito to look into fridge as it would have contained the leafy salad they had not finished yesterday. "You know what, next time, I'll do the groceries."

"You do that." Though Kaito secretly thinks Shinichi would also come back with a brown paper bag filled with a loaf of baguette, a head of cabbage, and three apples.


	6. Grocery (Take 2)

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

* * *

 **06 Grocery (Take 2, a more Eastern Flavour. Or should the title be 'Curry'?)**

 _Whenever someone returns home for their cooking duties, it is either curry or beef stew._

It was Shinichi's turn for grocery shopping, leaving Kaito at home to fill up his boredom with something less destructive (Shinichi would have preferred something non-destructive but he knew how hard that could be). So instead of ruining yet another ceiling with his fireworks experiment, Kaito turned to his chemistry kit to work out another formula for smoke bombs, one that would hopefully result in a glittery smoke rather than the traditional pink (when is pink smoke even traditional?)

"Tadaima." Came Shinichi's tired voice from the front entrance, along with a soft thud from the door.

"Okaeri." Kaito greeted. He peeked out of the basement doorway to see Shinichi slowly shucking off his shoes. On the shoe cupboard was a small white plastic bag, bulked up at the bottom with whatever foodstuffs he procured. "Let me help you with that."

Shinichi shook his head, taking the bag himself to the kitchen area. Kaito followed, curious to see what was brought back.

The first thing that was brought out was a bag of chips, followed by carrots, potatoes, leeks, and a pack of instant curry powder.

"Curry again?" It was always curry, without fail, every single time they went grocery shopping (regardless of who was in charge of doing it), it would result in a bag full of curry ingredients and a packet of chips (or if Kaito was really lucky, it would be a box of chocolate snacks like Pocky).

"Yea…" Shinichi sounded resigned.

Kaito hated how Shinichi sounded so depressed and quickly walked over to wrap the detective's waist with his arms, pulling him in so that he could lay a comforting kiss on those windswept cheeks.

"Doesn't matter. You make the best curry anyways." Shinichi ducked away to hide the blushing face but Kaito had already spotted it. "I'll have the vegetables washed and cut. You go and clean yourself up first."

Kaito softly pushed Shinichi towards the doorway as he started on the night's dinner, even though they still have leftover curry from the day before.


	7. Request: Monologue

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Yay more suggestions!

The following is a suggestion from reader Tobina "One cliché that always makes me roll my eyes is when the bad guy begins to explain everything about his motives, his background and his mother's grandma and gives the hero ample time to plan for a way to overpower him. Or sometimes it is the other way around and the hero's got out of a bad situation just to bicker with each other until the bad guy catches up and they are in trouble again... Know what I mean? It can be quite frustrating..."

I actually managed 2 stories from one request.

* * *

 **07 Tobina Request: Monologue**

 _Baddies love to rant…_

Kaito tries oh-so very hard to stifle the groan aching to be released. It had been such a nice heist that night, complete with starry skies, willing participants, fabulous jewels, and great food (they were serving a very decadent three tiered chocolate cake with a mirror glaze finishing that looked like the galaxy), all to be ruined by Snake.

Like any heist, it started off two weeks before the actual event with him sending out an _invitation_ to his beloved Task Force and detectives (though if he were to be honest, there was a single detective in particular that he wanted to catch the attention of). With the invite was of course a small unseen and undetectable gift in the form of a listening device. He heard how the Inspector ranted and raved about the "good for nothing thief thinking he could get his grubby paws on private property and wasting millions of yen in terms in property damage!". (Kaito had wanted to send a reply right at that very moment, a rather tersely worded reply about how his hands were always clean and his gloves were a pristine white. How he was not the one to cause the property damage and that all his tricks were removable with a simple wash of soap and warm water.) Kaito bore witness to how Hakuba held the white envelope with the _invitation_ at arm's length and demanding a set of tongs from his caretaker along with a clean room and a Hazmat suit. He was pleasantly amused by the ridiculous measures the British detective took to avoid possible remote pranking (Kaito had, quite some time ago, dyed his blond hair multicolored through mail). Though none could compare to the slightly fond expression on a certain sapphire-eyed detective as his eyes took in the delicate calligraphy with a smile lingering on his lips.

Of course, that was two weeks ago. Now, he stood in a face off with Snake, surrounded by his darkly dressed minions, with guns pointed at Kaito's (or rather KID's at the moment seeing as he was in costume) head. Snake had this rather punch-able smirk on his face that made Kaito's brows twitch.

"You're not going anywhere KID! I have you now, right where I wanted. And my underlings have you surrounded!" All that was missing from this statement was the evil Mwahahaha laugh.

"Yes, yes. Bravo. Very nice." KID clapped boredly, voice dripping with sarcasm enough to fill an ocean. "So very very smart of you to corner me on a roof."

"Of course! Because I know this is your escape route! I know you like the back of my hands! Chased you for more than a decade and can read you like a book. I remember every single encounter with you, learning your every move and anticipating your next actions!"

This time, Kaito held back a shudder. It sounded too much like a love confession of sorts. That or a confession of a stalker.

"You're too predictable KID. Always taking the high road. As long as I know where you would be, I can plot my revenge. Revenge for all the times you've humiliated me. The times where you think you had the upper hand but it was I who were pulling the strings. I only let you go to bring me Pandora..." Snake's smirk widened and eyes immediately zoomed in on Kaito's breast pocket. He felt like he should cover himself with his hands for some reason. That look was just _dirty_. "You have Pandora, our means to immortality. Once you hand it over, I can consider sparing you a painful death and maybe, just maybe, I can consider not going after your loved ones. I know the pain of losing loved ones and I do oh-so wish you have the chance to feel it. There is this cringe worthy pull to your heart, how it seems like someone had stabbed you and left the knife in the wound then begins to twist it. You might feel that, but for me? All I'll feel is the satisfaction of seeing you writhing on the ground, red staining your suit, moaning in pain. Oh, those sounds would be like the angel's chorus, a lovely chime to my ears…"

At that point, Kaito decided to tune out Snake's monologue. It was all too much like that TV show he saw last night, something about several kingdoms, dragons, and attempts at world domination. Kaito could not be too sure, he most likely fell asleep partway and woke up to watch another show, which could be why it sounded strange in his mind. Either way, he distinctly remembered how someone, probably the antagonist, went into this long winded speech about his long lost father's bid for power or something.

But that is beside the point. The more urgent matter was escaping his predicament. Especially whilst the wind was in his favour and his detective(s) were distracted by the _trick_ he left behind (he managed to lock them inside several cages in the ballroom where the jewel had been on display for the charity event this evening. He also left them in handcuffs, balls and chains, zip ties, and a myriad of securing devices that would take a skilled thief at least twenty minutes to escape from. Though he had a feeling his beloved detective could easily overcome the difficulties and would soon be appearing on the roof with a slightly ruffled appearance. Kaito wondered whether he had all his cameras set up properly to catch the moment). As Snake continued his speech, Kaito carefully observed the minions. They looked not only bored, but also frozen stiff. It could be because of the low temperature that evening. He remembered the weather report stating there was a chance for snow sometime near midnight.

As Kaito turned his head, Snake yelled out "Oi! Are you listening?"

"Of course." Kaito humored the man though his mind was more tuned to figuring out how to capture this sorry lot. He had already plotted out his route of escape, the minions circle was filled with holes for him to exploit. However, just escaping is not enough. He wanted to see if he could reverse the tide and capture these people instead. Which meant he had to keep to the status-quo for now and listen to Snake's ranting for a little bit longer (Kaito was very tempted to break his own 'no-one-gets-hurt' rule just to stop the boring monologue).

"You're like my grandmother, always thinking they know best, that they're superior. No matter what, always using that infuriating smile to placate people when in fact they're really not listening to a single word being said." And how true Snake was to deduce in that tiny brain of his of the lack of attention Kaito was having on the current one-sided conversation. "I really ought to teach you a lesson, one that drills into your mind the importance of listening to your elders and not space out…"

Kaito inconspicuously reached for his card gun, weighing the merit of just shooting the man.

"I've had nephews like yourself and I taught them a lesson. Engraved it into their hearts, mind, and of course their body. They now know better than to ignore me and their betters…"

Kaito knew he was running out of time. His (very smart and very alluring) beloved detective would soon dramatically open the service doors and he had no intention of exposing the lovely detective to the crude (and very boring) nature of Snake.

"Then there was that annoying women who thought she was better than everyone else. She might think she was a favourite amongst all us operatives, but really, she is no better than those that follow me…" Snake continued, not even noticing how Kaito had carefully snuck a hand into his pant pockets to retrieve a remote control.

The wind changed direction, no longer favouring Kaito's desired flight path but blowing towards them. It would serve him well as the wind can drive the smoke in his direction, masking his later actions. With a press of button, multicoloured smoke erupted from the edges of the roof, disrupting Snake's monologue.

"What the-?!" Snake lowered his gun a fraction, giving Kaito the opportunity to run over to the nearest minion. The wind was helping out by being overly erratic, creating multiple smaller tornados on the roof and saturating the small area with the smoke which was further exacerbated with Kaito's pre-installed fans. The minion gave a yelp, a sound that Kaito committed to mind before he knocked the unfortunate baddie out with his home cooked sleeping gas.

He quickly swapped out the dark clothes with his own spare KID suit, and donned on the stolen clothing. Coughing a few times, he tested out his voice before yelling, "Ah! KID! I got him!"

Smoke wavered in the distanced, signalling someone walking over. None too soon, Snake appeared in his view with his gun once again aimed up high. Eyes narrowed from beneath the fedora and glasses, assessing the unconscious man in front of him and Kaito himself. The moment was tense, so much so that Kaito had to gulp.

"Are you sure." Snake accused, though his tone of voice did not seem like it was a question. Rather he was suspecting Kaito's character.

"O-Of co-course!" Kaito remembered to add a slight tremble of fear. "H-he tried to kn-knock me out bu-but I stepped away in time to a-avoid the spray of gas."

"Really?" Snake bent closer, his face towering over Kaito.

"I-I mean h-he c-could b-be? I-it's p-p-possible th-that i-it was o-one of o-ours…?"

Eyes narrowed further. Kaito felt the coldness of metal on his temple as Snake had raised his weapon.

"Don't think I'll fall for this." He sneered, his other hand already reaching up to capture Kaito.

"Well," Kaito abandoned his character immediately. With a flash of light and an eruption of smoke, he changed back into his white uniform. Everything had been according to plan and Snake, alongside his minions, were in the place he wanted them all to be. "Aren't you a clever one tonight Snake?" Kaito let himself grin, full of teeth and mischief.

Snake took a cautious step back and Kaito let his grin widen an inch.

With ample flair and drama, he stretched out his right arm up into the air. All the eyes were immediately drawn to the object in his outstretched hand. The silver remote glinted under the full moon's light. His thumb slowly moved towards the big red button (again, it is all about the dramatics).

"No no no no no!" Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Snake tries to shorten the distance between them. Kaito could not help but let out a rather demonic laugh with the press of the button.

The floor underneath their feet shifted, Kaito nimbly jumped back just enough to clear himself of the trap. The floor pulled towards the edge of the roof, minions and Snake panicked as they tried to break free. He made sure the netting and the pulley could support the weight of the entire Task Force so a mere dozen baddies should be no trouble. The net, and baddies in tow, were pulled over the edge, forming a nice bag of criminals and dangling them over twenty storeys amidst the spotlights and sirens. Kaito walked slowly to peer over the edge, Snake swore up a storm that would have left Kaito blushing if not for the fact he had been constantly exposed to the Inspector's own creative curses throughout his nighttime career.

"Hang in there Snake. I'm sure I can have someone to pick you up soon. In the meantime, do enjoy Tokyo's night view." Kaito tipped his hat in mocking reverence to turn towards his choice of exit now that the wind was blowing in his preferred route.

And as though with impeccable timing, his beloved detective slammed open the service doors.

"KID!" He yelled, azure eyes blazing with enthusiasm even though he has panting in breath.

"Meitantei, just in time." KID sauntered away from the edge, stopping just a few steps away with his hands tucked into his trouser pockets.

"Hand yourself over!" He demanded, aiming the tranquilizer dart watch in his direction.

"I'm afraid I must decline. Maybe this would soothe your demands?" Kaito moved slightly out of the way, gesturing to his back where the baddies were hanging.

Measured steps were taken towards the edge, pausing momentarily as he passed Kaito. Kaito tipped in hat just a fraction, to make sure the shadows could mask his facial features and in respect to his beloved detective. The detective quirked an eyebrow but proceeded towards the gestured location.

"KID…?" It was obvious what the detective wanted to ask.

"I did make sure they were safe and unharmed you know." He added just in case. "Besides, they _are_ from a shady organisation. I'm only doing your job for you." Kaito smiled fondly as he detected something soft in the azure eyes that looked back.

"But KID…" Kaito was not sure whether the detective was in a state of surprise or if he was grateful, but he did know at that moment there was a sudden urge to close the distance between the pair of them for the azure eyes were just asking for Kaito. "They're-"

"No need to thank me just yet." Kaito cut him off part way with a gloved finger on those plush pink lips. "But if you do want to show your appreciation, I wouldn't mind a bit of compensation."

"Ho-"

Not waiting for the detective to continue, Kaito dove in for his prize (or price from the detective's point of view). He kept the touch quick, not wanting to overstay his welcome. However, even in that briefest of seconds, he could taste the bitterness from coffee and a touch of sweetness that Kaito was struggling to name the taste to. Ultimately, he determined that must have been the taste of the detective.

"Well, now that I have what I came for," Kaito stepped before the detective could respond. He produced the night's target and held it up towards the moon. Like many others he had stolen, this one merely reflected the moon's light in its translucent body. In a moment of weakness, Kaito smiled bitterly before lowering the gem to eye level to toss to the detective. "I shall be on my way now, Meitantei. Do help me return it to its owner and give my regards to the Inspector."

With a backwards wave, Kaito dove for the roof's edge, opening his glider at the very last possible moment and rode the thermals up through Tokyo's midnight sky. He could barely make out the detective's final words through the wind.

"Idiot." Kaito managed to catch the soft voice, which brought forth a small comforting smile.


	8. Request: Dialogue

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Yay more suggestions!

OK, same request from reader Tobina, but another story altogether.

* * *

 **08 Tobina Request: Dialogue**

 _Whenever the protagonist feels they are safe during an escape, they will surely launch into a conversation, not once did they ever think their enemies would ever catch up._

Shinichi sighed in his seated position. His arms were aching, his back was aching, there was this annoying hum in the background that made his headache worst, the cloth blindfolding him was very itchy and he could feel his legs developing pins-and-needles from extended sitting down on a hard surface.

"Would it kill them to put down a cushion or something?" He muttered, testing his bonds again. The metal cuff clinked and clang on the chair back. He tried lifting his legs but they too were secured to the chair legs. "Why?" He moaned before slumping back into his seat.

The day had started off so well, where Shinichi having been able to savour a nice cup of coffee in that corner coffee shop he loved before the first corpse fell (literally). That particular crime was solved before Division One made appearance (Shinichi managed to capture the murderer red-handed in the middle of trying to prepare for a shaky alibi). He managed to take a relaxing walk to the bookshop to pick up his order, though he had to stop a burglary when he went to the bank to withdraw funds and later a pickpocket in the streets. But overall, it would have been classified as one of his better days seeing as there had been very little in the form of bloodshed. On his worst day he had to deal with a serial killer having taken half a dozen lives from when Shinichi took over the case; a murderer killing off a whole family of six including the parents, a set of twins, a teenage boy, and a baby several months old; and several bomb threats, which had one detonated in a busy street during lunch times and resulted in more than fifty injured and three dead all within the same twenty-four hours. He had considered moving away from Beika where there was a hive of criminal activity but the brief stay in the countryside made him realize it was not the location which brought about the crime, but himself attracting the crime. At which point he moved back to Beika for the sheer convenience and being around a familiar environment.

However, that was the past, the present is more concerning. He was, afterall, kidnapped from the streets. His last memory was turning a corner towards the Kudo mansion then a sting in his neck followed by the rushing wind and pain.

"Ah, good morning lovely." With the lack of visual cues, Shinichi could only rely on his hearing. His ears detected the clicks from the person's heels, he calculated the person's height to be around 160cm, most likely female by the type of sound made by the footware.

"And to whom do I owe the pleasure to may I ask?" It was better to remain cordial in such cases. He had too many enemies to keep track of seeing as he placed too many people behind bars during his short 17 years of life (though to be honest, he only started actual crime solving at age 14 so a mere 3 years). Besides, not all of the agents from the Organisation had been put behind bars so it would not surprise him if a few low ranking agents escaped and thought they could raise the Organisation back to its former glory.

"Are you dying to know?" Her voice was reminiscent of Vermouth but he knew for a fact that she had returned to being a normal actress (having helped out in the takedown, she was only placed on a watch list rather than actual arrest). Though he remembered hearing from the woman that she had, at one point, taken apprentices of sorts. 'Young malleable minds' she calls them, who can follow in her footsteps.

"Are you Rosso?" He remembered one of the few names Vermouth had uttered during the late night conversations, names that were non-official but was no doubt treasured by these apprentices.

The moment of silence spoke louder than words and Shinichi was sure he guessed correctly.

"Are you trying for a revenge Ms Rosso?" Better to stick with the cordial tone, Vermouth had often liked banters between them and Shinichi hoped it carried over. Plus extending their conversation would give more time for Shinichi to figure out how to escape from the bindings on his legs. He had already picked the handcuffs during their initial exchange, a skill he picked up thanks to a certain thief that currently is sharing his home.

"Oh so very smart _Boy_ , I can understand why you were seen as a threat than as someone potentially useful." Shinichi could feel the heat from the woman now that she was standing close and most likely leaning down on him. "Shame you decided to refuse our offer, you're really quite a special one. No wonder _She_ also took an interest in you." Her fingers trailed along his cheeks, to which he tries to repress the shiver. It was difficult not to react to such physical forms of seduction, though it was even more difficult to not feel disgusted at such actions. He was spoken for after all.

"You do know by taking me out of the picture, you're likely to incur _Her_ wrath and bring attention to many others correct?" There was no way any criminal could be that stupid. After his 'resurrection', as a certain thief likes to call it, both the media and the law enforcements (multiple agencies from multiple nations) had been keeping tabs on him. From his usual routes and favoured shops (he tried to vary them but these people are professionals and they do have the resource to tail him) to what he ate for breakfast (he had complained about their stalker-like behaviour only to be countered by "we're only trying to make sure you won't be poisoned" or some such excuse) they probably knew by now he had been kidnapped. If not, then at least the thief does seeing as he had been tracking Shinichi since long before the takedown (Shinichi had still yet to figure out how the thief managed to do this outside of his perception).

"Oh, I wouldn't worry so much. I made sure someone of equal calibur to my skills is making sure no one would notice." Shinichi had to wonder how many of these apprentices escaped arrest. Vermouth had listed out quite a few after all. "And you really should worry more about your own wellbeing."

"I very much doubt you'd want to hurt me-" Before he could finish the sentence, he felt cold metal along his neck. A knife if he were to guess. Not wanting to waste the opportunity of her close proximity, he dropped the pair of handcuffs he had been holding and pushed her back with his hands. With quick movements, he captured her wrist and twisted her so that she would have her back facing him. Using the captured wrist, he maneuvered so he could use the same knife to threaten her instead.

"It seems I've underestimated you." There was amusement in her voice.

"Not really, you just left yourself open to attack." Although he really disliked hurting others, he had no choice. Instead of using his wristwatch tranquilizer, he made do with a forceful tap on the back of the neck, a move he learnt from Ran and later perfected to deliver a numbing blow and render the opponent unconscious.

She slumped down in his grasp and he slowly lowered her down. Pulling off his blindfold, he blinked away the sudden onslaught of light. The room was actually quite normal and clean, unlike what he had guessed (too many of his kidnappings ended up in disused warehouse and offices with layers of dirt and broken windows). The light fixture was missing the protective casing and there was the presence of blackout curtains on the windows, but with the small table to the side and a bed against the wall, it could be mistaken as someone's bedroom instead of a hideaway.

"Though that might be what you had been aiming for right?" Shinichi asked the unconscious body, reaching downwards to untie his legs. Standing up, he stretched and tested out his maneuverability, rotating his shoulders and ankles to resume blood circulation. He had to wince when he turned his head too fast. Gently, he touched his head and winced. He must be sporting a gash on his forehead.

Reaching for the set of handcuffs, he secured the woman to the chair, taking care to remember to bind her legs as well.

Dusting off his hands, he took a look at the door wondering whether there was someone else on the other side. Though it is quite unlikely seeing as the previous commotion had not drawn in a hoard of people into the room. Just when he thought he would be able to exit the room like he owned the place, the knob turned slowly and ominously. Shinichi stood his ground though prepared to spring a high kick when the need calls for it.

The door opened slowly, dramatically, a millimeter at a time, as though wanting to create tension. When the door finally opened, and Shinichi prepared to knock whoever it was on the other side into land of dreams, it revealed nothing. Suddenly, something was thrown into the room, a metallic cylinder around the size of a canned drink. It clanged noisily onto the ground and immediately burst into grey smoke. Shinichi quickly covered his face with his sleeves, hoping to filter out most of the smoke and gas. It smelled faintly sweet, reminiscent of a certain thief's blend of sleeping gas (something that he had finally developed immunity to thanks to overexposure). He took a step back, hoping that whoever emerged would be who he thought it was.

With the disturbance of smoke, a gloved hand reached out towards Shinichi. White cotton gloves with intricate stitches along the ridges. Shinichi grab hold of the hand, intertwining their fingers and pulling towards himself. Following the gloves was a blue sleeves and clover cufflinks, over which was a white two buttons fastening the ends of the cuffs. There was only one person obnoxious enough to wear white in a rescue mission.

"I mean no harm." Shinichi whispered to in the ears as he wrapped an arm around the thin waist.

"Jeez Meitantei. You're going to give me a heart attack one day." The body against him seemed to relax just a fraction. "Also, you're an idiot to be abducted _again_ for the third time this week."

"Not my fault that criminals thought I make easy targets." Shinichi shrugged, letting the thief lead him out the doors. He glanced downwards to the slump figures littering the corridor.

"Don't worry, they're all just asleep." KID pulled Shinichi along, taking the stairs several at a time.

"I do hope that you didn't leave any nasty surprises for when they wake up though." Shinichi spared a moment to look back into the corridor. "Like that time a month back? When that girl took me hostage? You cut her hair short and dyed her hair multicolour? Then stuck a pig snout onto her face before knocking her unconscious and handing her over to the police?"

"She deserved that though. She was a stalker!" KID defended, he stood in center of the corridor free of any littering unconscious bodies. His arms were on his hips in mock anger. "You should appreciate my effort you know."

Shinichi stopped in front of KID, lifted his hands and flicked the thief in the nose for his forehead was covered by the hat's rim. "That was over-the-top and unnecessary."

"I was only looking out for your well-being…" Like a scolded child, KID fidgeted and squirmed. "I only wanted you safe."

"I _am_ safe, even without having you pull all those obnoxious stunts."

"But I thought you liked my stunts." With watery eyes. Shinichi suddenly felt guilty, as though he just drowned a bucket full of puppies. "Are you saying you're already bored with my tricks? That I'm no good anymore?" There were even traces of tears bordering on the eyes and Shinichi had to applaud at the thief for calling up tears on demand (the only other people he knew who had that ability was his mother and one Satan-incarnate in the form of a seven year old).

Although Shinichi knew KID was playing him like a fiddle, he knew he was falling for a ruse, but those wide indigo eyes tugged at his heartstrings and left him with an aching twang. Sighing, Shinichi took a few steps forward and wrapped KID in a warming hug.

"Stop your tears." He whispered softly into KID's ear. "You're a great magician and I like your tricks even though you could do with fewer hair dyes and change of clothes…"

"Meitantei...does that mean you find my tricks...repetitive?" There was still that sad, teary, quality to his voice that made Shinichi panic.

"No, no, no." Shinichi pulls away slight, though still holding KID in a loose hold around the waist. "You're tricks are fun, they're interesting."

Shinichi sweat in the momentary silence between them, the air around was rather tense to the point that Shinichi thought there might be a bomb needing to be disarmed somewhere in the building (not the first time he encountered something like this during an escape). That only lasted until KID broke into a wide grin.

"You faked it." Shinichi stated plainly, pulling further away. But KID took grip of the wrist around his waist. "I hate you."

"No you don't." KID looked too cheerful all of a sudden. He pulled Shinichi back, possibly trying to trap Shinichi into an inescapable hold (though if Shinichi was being honest, he really did not feel like escaping much from the warm touch). "After all, if you were, you'd have kicked me already."

It was a truth that Shinichi did not want to admit just yet, even if the thief had stated as plain as day. Just when Shinichi was about to reply with a smart remark, the pair heard the rapid staccato of footfalls behind them, along with shouts for "After them!"

Shinichi swore softly as he twisted back to see how far away their pursuers were though KID seems to have other ideas as he pulled Shinichi along the relatively empty corridor and towards a set of steps.

"We're going up?" Shinichi asked, even though he knew KID's preferred route of escape is through the roof.

"No, _you're_ going up." KID circled behind Shinichi and gave him a push up the steps. "I've hidden a long distance grappling hook in the shadows of the service entrance. Use that and aim for the building on the east. Secure the end of the line and sail across it. I've parked a car in the garage, you'll recognise it when you're there." Shinichi felt KID dropped something in his pockets even as he resisted KID's urge to move.

"Wait KI-" Shinichi was forced to take several steps upwards to avoid the sudden blast of smoke. Although he knew KID would not hurt him at this point in time, who knows what strange concoction he had mixed inside of the smoke (it was in an eerie green). Covering his mouth, he paused for a second more before heading up the indicated steps.

Just like KID indicated, all the equipment were hidden behind the shadows. During his flight upwards, Shinichi kept hearing sounds of gunfire and he prayed the thief had a bulletproof vest. At each round of staccato, Shinichi held his breath and paused in his run, dreading to hear the sound of triumph from their pursuers. He had to wonder who built this building as sound travelled unnaturally well up the stairwell.

Glancing back at the closed service entrance, he waited patiently for KID to appear. The firing mechanism for the grappling hook was held in a death grip in his hands and he had already scouted the best anchor for the device. All he needed was for the stupid thief to appear.

"Where are you…" He muttered into the wind. The sound from the stairwell grew louder. Shinichi strained to hear the sounds and identified it to belong to several pairs of feet instead of the singular tread pattern. Not wanting to waste time, Shinichi aimed and fired at the location, then secured the line from his end onto the metallic hook on his side of the building. He prepared the rest of the gear, hooking up the pulley system and testing the strength with the intention of distracting himself from thinking how the thief could have been ambushed.

"Come on. Hurry…" Shinichi prayed to the winds now that all the preparations were done. He stood by the line, one hand on the pulley system waiting to take him across. His eyes were glued towards the heavy doors to the roof, looking for the sign of the thief.

When the door slammed open, he was sorely disappointed for the shadow it cast on the rooftop was not one with a top hat. Fortunately, Shinichi was quite well hidden and took off on the line the moment he saw the person who appeared was not the one he waited for. He was not about to risk being captured again.

With the night being one of a new moon, Shinichi was fortunate to have the cover of darkness when he sailed through the skies. The wind whistled past his ears until he stumbled onto the roof of the next building. Automatically, he snapped the line using the handy mechanism on the pulley system. The line lost tension and fell.

"You better be safe." He took one final glance in the direction that he came from before picking the lock to the service entrance. Shinichi was thankful the thief had slipped in a set of lockpicks into his pockets alongside a shiny car key on a clover keychain.

Although his skills is nothing like KID's, Shinichi still managed to have the door open within 3 minutes. In front of him, the elevator was opened as though waiting for him to enter. Shinichi was suspicious but he figured it must have been KID's work to have all this arranged.

He could imagine the jibes coming from the thief, "Probably would comment how unlawfully I'm behaving, then he would take a stab at my profession and maybe try and recruit me…" He muttered to himself as he exited the elevator that took him directly down to the garage.

"Actually I'd say only the latter is correct." A soft voice whispered in his ear. Shinichi jumped back into a defensive position. "I do appreciate how you tried to learn my craft."

"KID!" Shinichi exclaimed with a hand over his heart, hoping that he could calm it down somehow.

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course not idiot!" Shinichi threw a punch towards KID's chest. There was not much power behind his action but KID still acted as though the punch hurt. Gloved hands continually rubbed over the area that Shinichi's fist had touched and he had to wonder if the thief was truly injured. "Um...are you...injured?"

"See, you _do_ care." KID smiled blindingly. "But to answer your question. I'm fine. Though if I were you, I'd worry about Miss Kidnapper you know."

"I'm afraid to ask." Shinichi strode past the thief. For a moment he felt stupid for worrying unnecessarily.

"You're no fun at all Meitantei." KID's relaxed pose and soft steps helped Shinichi to release the tension he had been building up.

Shinichi walked purposefully towards a seemingly random area of the garage. If he knew KID like the thief knew Shinichi, then the thief would surely know all his habits and quirks and have predicted he would come in this direction. Sure enough, a white car stood in a dark corner of the myriad of parking spaces. On the windshield was a single stem of clover.

"Bit much isn't it?" Shinichi picked up the bit of fauna and twirled it around, admiring the leaf structure under the artificial light.

"See? I knew you'd immediately know which car was mine." KID plucked the clover from his hands and enclosed it within his own fist. He waved his other hand over the top and bottom before turning his fist over and opened in front of Shinichi. Resting in the palm of his hands was a singular silver key. Shinichi had to wonder when the thief had the chance to lift the key from his pockets.

"Show off." He muttered, snatching the key from the thief's palm.

"You know since I'm the owner of the car…" Shinichi's eyes twitched at the strangely gleeful look on KID's face. He could not, for the life of him, deduce what was going on in that twisted mind. "I think it would only be fair to request some form of compensation for this great gift."

"Gift?" Shinichi stared incredulously. "You're not actually giving me the car you know." Shinichi slipped into the driver's seat, securing the seatbelt over his torso. He insert the key and was in the process of turning it, without regards to whether the thief had seated himself.

"Of course it is a gift. After all, it's not everyday KID brings out the old rust bucket from the depths of his cave you know."

"Don't insult this beauty." The purr of the engine was like music to his ears and Shinichi could not fathom this beautiful car had been left inside a dusty-damp cave for an insurmountable amount of time. "Also, it's a sin to leave her by her lonesome."

"Oh, I see how it is now." KID answered with a particularly sad face, eyes near watering and a slight pout to his lips. "You're just looking for the aesthetics. The minute you laid eyes on this, you fell for it, forgetting little ol' me…" He ran a gloved hand over the leather dashboard, trailing his fingers along the surface and drawing small circles.

Shinichi's brows twitched again. He could not believe the thief was pulling the pity card. Narrowing his eyes, and wanting to put an end to this guilt-tripping act, he pulled KID by the necktie and crushed his lips onto the thief's, immediately stopping whatever rant the thief had in mind. He mashed their lips together, tongue forcibly entering the moist cavern and flicking through the various tastes still left inside the mouth after a rather tasty meal. Shinichi could feel rather than hear KID's response, the tremble of a moan and the desperation of the thief's grip on his lapels. Deciding not to indulge himself further, Shinichi pulled away without acknowledging how KID's tongue had tried to drag him back in, as though inviting Shinichi for one last taste.

"There's your payment, now let me drive." Shinichi ignored the way his own cheeks burn or the lingering sweetness on his lips. He ignored how indigo eyes tried to bore holes through his skin as though wanting to pierce into his soul.

"You're mean." KID poked at him with a playful voice after they turned out of the garage. "You shouldn't play people like that."

"Who said I was playing." Shinichi glanced over to see the widened (and slightly glazed over) eyes as the thief's pink tongue licked over the lips in anticipation.

"I'll hold your word for it and take that as a deposit."


	9. Flashlight

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I have no idea what's wrong with my brain...

* * *

 **09 Flashlights**

 _Whenever someone enters a dark forest for a while, their source of light (flashlight, candle, lighter) will always go out at the best (worst?) moment._

Shinichi walked down the small dark path in the pitch black forest. He had been following that white spot gliding through the sky at a dangerously low altitude and he just _knew_ something was wrong. Slowly, he made his way through the thick vegetation, having branches viciously scratch at his clothes. He would not be too surprised if, after the night is through, he would come out wearing strips of rags rather than actual clothing.

Just as he was about to give up, his flashlight caught a reflection of something. Quickly, he rushed over without a thought to his own safety.

The shine was from the glint on the monocle's glass and he could not suppress the sudden shiver running up his spine.

"KID..." He muttered, glancing furiously side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of white. When he found none, he picked a random direction (actually, it was not very random seeing as he factored in the wind direction that allowed for hang-gliding and looked for a path of least resistance by the surrounding bushes) and allowed his feet to take him, hopefully to where the thief landed.

However, just as he found the thief, lying on his back with a hand over his abdomen, his light died. Shinichi cursed softly, relying on his other senses to tell him when he was close to the thief.

"Who's that?" KID's alarmed voice was accompanied by the glint of metal from his card gun. Automatically, Shinichi put his hands up. Although he could not see a thing within the darkness offered by the forest, he doubted it was the same for the thief.

"Don't shoot, it's just me." That has to be the lamest excuse but he hoped the thief could recognise his voice.

"Oh, Meitantei. You scared me for a moment." The gun was lowered, it seemed that the thief trusted Shinichi enough to let down his guard even for a bit.

"Um...is there anything I can help you with? Were you...shot?"

"A common occurrence and a job hazard I'm afraid." Clearly, by the groan and shuffling, KID was trying to sit up. "I'll be fine in a moment or two. No need to worry your pretty head over little ol' me."

Shinichi sighed and walked closer. Stopping when his feet hit something. Reaching out, he tries to steady the thief. "Stop trying to be a macho and let me help." Shinichi wrapped an arm around the thief's waist and hauled him up, supporting the thief's full weight. "Let's find you help."

They walked in silence for what seemed like an eternity until they finally exited the forest and surfaced in civilization.

"Hey..." KID said in a breathless voice. Shinichi could practically feel the thief slipping in his grasp. "Thanks."

"No problem." Shinichi heaved the thief higher. "We're pretty close to a doctor friend and he should be able to fix you right back up. Just hang in there."

"Yea… Sure." Unfortunately, to Shinichi's ears, that did not sound comforting. It felt as though the thief would expire any time soon. "But would you mind if I hold onto something of yours so I know I should stay alive?"

"Huh?" Shinichi stopped in his tracks, face turning to look clearly at the thief.

"I'll take that as a yes." Without waiting for Shinichi to answer, KID dove upwards and kissed him on the lips. "Thanks." And with that, the thief passed out.

"Oi, KID!" Shinichi suddenly panicked at the abruptness. But underneath all that was also annoyance at the behaviour. "A gentleman does not _Kiss-and-faint_!"


	10. Request: Illness

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: More suggestions! Yay! Also, this is proof of life. I promise to update my other fics within a week (I'm finally less busy)

The following is another request from Tobina: "Ever noticed how the characters seem to have very dramatic colds? I mean - they get drenched in the rain and the next day they are sick, but decide to go to school, work, whatever anyway. Then they faint (from a cold...) just to be nursed back to health by their love interest. Don't know what it is with japanese people and apparently sudden fever spikes…"

I'm actually somewhat sick when writing this, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, dizzy...so the plot kind of reflects that (i.e. jumping all over the place a bit?) I did try to tidy it up and proofread but a single person can only go so far...

* * *

 **10 Tobina Request: Illness**

 _An illness generally means one can blame the change in behaviour on physiological changes_

It was expected that nothing good ever comes from the rain. Though in Shinichi's defense, he only stayed out in the rain because he was waiting for the precise moment to pounce on the killer hiding in the alley. He stayed in his position for a good hour before the moment came, meaning he was very much drenched by the time everything was said and done and the police had the criminal in custody. Takagi and Sato who were the ones to arrive on scene, were nice enough to tell Shinichi to come into the station the next day and to take a rest. The even offered him a ride, to which he declined as they were only a few blocks away from his house. Shinichi managed to meet up with Kaito, who had been returning from his rehearsal, partway through the walk. Though that meant another ten minutes in the rain as he waited by the crossroad. Upon seeing Shinichi, Kaito immediately fussed over his wet state, pulling out handkerchiefs and towels out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Under Kaito's administrations, Shinichi let himself be pampered and rubbed. Though he did earn a glare from Kaito the moment he sneezed.

Returning home, Shinichi was quickly ushered up the stairs towards the bathroom. Unfortunately for him, because of his constant exposure to the APTX, his immune system had been shot and the single sneeze he had before turned into a very bad headache that the climb up the stairs gave him vertigo and caused him to slip. Thankfully, Kaito was just behind him and managed to catch the suddenly-clumsy detective and carried him, bridal style, towards the bathroom. Inside, Kaito ordered Shinichi to strip down as he prepared for a bath full of warm water, to which Shinichi quickly sank into. Kaito grabbed the softest towel and the most comfortable set of pajamas for Shinichi to change into. He even prepared warm tea by the bedside and a hot water bottle stuffed underneath the blankets to keep the mattress a nice warm temperature.

Shinichi smiled at the gesture, gracing Kaito with a kiss. "You should rest as well. You have an early day tomorrow, what with all the preparation for the performance."

"I will, once I'm sure you're asleep." Kaito brushed his fringe away. "Do you need to be up early as well?"

"I'll sleep in for a while. Sato-san won't be expecting me before noon anyways."

Kaito sat on the edge of the bed until he was certain his detective had fell asleep. There were still several things he had to take care of before turning in for the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Exiting the station under the cloudy afternoon sky, Shinichi sneezed and not for the first time today he pulled out a new packet of tissue from his pockets. It seemed that Kaito had anticipated his sudden change in health and managed to pack each and every pocket with nifty, and much needed, goodies.

He remembered pulling out a small pack of candy to stem his continual coughing this morning when he arrived at the police station. During break, just as he was about to pull out his wallet to pay for the simple meal of porridge and preserved vegetable from the police canteen, a small plastic box containing several white tablets fell out. Kaito wrote in detail the dosage and when to take the pills, anticipating Shinichi's actions as he specifically ordered Shinichi to eat something nutritious and not to waste his coins on vending machine coffee.

The small script brought both annoyance and warmth to Shinichi.

Sometime mid-afternoon, in the middle of filling out the final forms for his week of consultation services (the perk of working as a private consultant instead of a full-time staff is that he only had to come in every so often, even though he had been given his own desk at Division One's office because of his continual presence on crime scenes) when Shinichi was pulling out the name stamp to verify the document, a foil packet fell out. It was one of those store bought lemon flavoured powder to be dissolved in liquid. Shinichi quirked an eye and flipped the packet over to reveal the recognizable small script alongside instructions of use, telling Shinichi that it was merely dried up lemon to soothe away the bland taste in his mouth. Licking his lips with a smile (and earning a strange glance from Takagi sitting next to him), he tucked the packet back into his pocket to finish off the last of the documents.

Unfortunately, his luck had run out the moment his Kaito-goodies ran out. As he turned the block away from the police headquarters, someone screamed "Thief!" to which Shinichi responded automatically and ran towards the sound. On the way, he bumped into a man running at full speed in his direction. Shinichi was just a split second too slow to respond and fell down on his backside. Not wasting another breath, he ran after the obvious thief. Most likely sensing danger, the thief only picked up his speed and ran towards the pedestrian bridge spanning the small water crossing. Whether Lady Luck was on his side was still of a debate but a group of girls had managed to slow the thief's sprint in the middle of the bridge. Shinichi used this delay to tackle the thief, earning him squeals from the girls who quickly scattered. The thief retaliated, pushing against Shinichi in hopes of escaping his hold. In the end, his sickness got the better of him and Shinichi's grip on the thief slipped. The thief took the opportunity and pushed Shinichi away. The sudden turn of events had Shinichi lose his balance and he promptly tipped backwards against the railing. At any other time, Shinichi could have easily steadied himself but his nose itched that very instance and his sneeze tipped him over the railing and into the freezing waters below.

Shinichi managed to exit the police box several hours later significantly less dripping than before. He had given a statement, returned the bag to the owner (the thief must be really chuffed right now to learn that Shinichi managed to steal back the bag seconds before plunging into the waterway below the bridge), and completed the necessary paperwork for the case (including giving a rather detailed description of the thief's features, he wondered whether he should ask Kaito to help out with the sketch seeing as the magician-thief had a knack with art). The police had offered to call up a patrol car to escort Shinichi home but he declined. It would be a waste of resource seeing as he was only a few train stops away from Beika.

With a tired "Tadiama" to the empty entryway of the Kudo house, Shinichi shuck out of his still soggy shoes and jacket and deposited them on the nearby surface that happened to be the shoe cupboard. He knew Kaito would have a fit when he came back from his performance but Shinichi silently promised, in his mind, to clear it up after a good night's sleep. Trudging up the stairs, he did not bother to take a shower and instead choose to strip himself of the still somewhat soggy clothes and crawled underneath the blankets of the double bed that they had recently bought (Kaito insisted on living together, hence the need for new furniture).

The next morning, Shinichi was woken up with a kiss to his cheeks and a beaming smile from Kaito next to him.

"Morning Shinichi." Came with another peck on the cheeks. "I didn't want to wake you up but your phone's alarm had been ringing non-stop for the past hour. Do you have an early appointment today?" The smile was extremely soft and warm, which turned Shinichi's brain into putty.

"Kai-chan~!" Shinichi tackled Kaito back into the mattress with an "Ompf". "Why didn't you wake me up last night~"

"Shinichi?" Confusion, worry, and amusement waged war inside indigo eyes. Shinichi only pouted.

"You're a meany! I wanted to say 'Welcome Home' to you and stuff but you didn't even wake me up for it~ Do you know how bad that is?" Shinichi whined, latching onto Kaito's neck and snuggling up towards the cool flesh. "You're not supposed to do something like that~ you're supposed to be the gentleman magician-thief thing who always greet people and give people flowers and stuff~"

"Hold on Shinichi." Kaito tried to pull away only for Shinichi to wrap harder around his neck, to the point that Kaito thought he might choke. "Wait."

"No wait!" Shinichi buried his head into Kaito's chest, hair tickling Kaito's nose. "I've waited a whole night~ and I didn't get the normal hugs and stuff so I'm getting it now!"

Kaito struggled against the rather strong detective, wiggling his body just enough to allow him to place a hand on the forehead. Though it was clear that something was not right with his detective, a most like a result of a fever. Though Kaito would never put it pass Shinichi not to put on an act just to see him fluster.

"You're having a fever…" Kaito placed a hand on the cheeks, now noticing the too-pink cheeks that was more than just a simply blush. "I'll need to go grab you some medicine…"

"No!" Shinichi was extremely clingy all of a sudden. "No medicine. They're yucky and stuff…"

"Shinichi, please. At least allow me to bring down the fever. It's...well…" Kaito made the mistake of looking into the cerulean orbs. It held a puppy-dog look that spoke of innocence with the silent question of 'Why do you want to leave me?'. Shinichi looked extremely cute, too cute for Kaito to leave.

"Kai-chan is not leaving! Kai-chan will stay with Shin-chan!" Shinichi declared with a huff. There was a strange sparkle in those blue eyes, one that Kaito loved and hated at the same time. It meant that Shinichi had some insane plan in his head that could be either fun or painful. "Kai-chan will stay because Shin-chan says so." The pout morphed into a smirk as Shinichi loomed over Kaito. "And because Kai-chan cannot go anywhere else."

Kaito heard an ominous click and he glanced up towards the headboard. Sometime between losing himself in Shinichi's eyes and in his own thoughts, his detective had managed to reposition his hands to allow them to be cuffed towards the two posts on either side of the bed.

"Kai-chan _**will**_ stay." Shinichi patted on Kaito's chest before reaching over to his bedside drawers, rummaging about. "And he will stay because he has no other options." He pulled out a stuffed toy. A pale blue stuffed fish with beady black eyes and a smiley mouth. Kaito was paralysed, mouth gaping in silent plead for help.

Shinichi tapped the plushy fish on Kaito's head, to which he squealed and squirmed, before placing it on Kaito's chest.

"See? Kai-chan will stay." Satisfied, Shinichi laid down next to Kaito, hands wrapped around his waist to hold the fish in place.

Kaito looked down, first seeing beady eyes before the mop of brown hair. He tries to stamp down on his fears but the blank black eyes were looking at him as though it could stare into his soul.

"Shinichi," Kaito had the urge to cry, "please? I need to get you medicine, and food, and...please get the f-f-fi-thing off me?"

But Shinichi would not move from his position. It seemed as though his detective have drifted off to sleep, though it was definitely not the peaceful slumber one would associate with sickness-induce sleep. Shinichi whined and groaned, body shifting erratically. For what seemed like eternity, Kaito endured the stare of the beady black eyes until a movement of Shinichi dislodged the plush toy from its location. The groans became painful whines, stirring up worry from Kaito. With some flexible maneuvering, Kaito managed to pick the lock of the handcuffs to release himself. Carefully, he positioned Shinichi closer to the center of the bed and covered the quite naked body with the blanket that had somehow been thrown to the side.

He placed his hand on Shinichi's forehead, only to remove it quickly. The heat seemed to have increased. Kaito swore as he quickly ran towards the bathroom for a wet towel, hoping it would have some effect on the heat and buy him time to grab an ice pack.

The moment the cool towel made contact with flushed skin, blue eyes snapped open. It was slightly unfocused, glancing left and right, but ultimately it managed to stare deep into Kaito's eyes.

"Kaito?" Shinichi's voice was softer this time as though uncertain about his surroundings, "what time is it? I've got a meeting with a client..." He tries to sit up only for Kaito to place a hand on his shoulders to prevent him from moving.

"Shinichi, now's not the time to worry about that." Kaito whispered softly. He was thankful he had nothing planned today, no performances and no rehearsals. "You have a high fever, I'll go grab some medicine and an ice pack. Stay put."

Kaito feared Shinichi would sudden latch back onto him, but instead the detective only nodded and sank into the pillow with a soft cough.

Medicine was downed with water and an ice pack applied to the head under Kaito's supervision (just in case Shinichi decided to do something drastic like throwing it out the window or something, Kaito could not be sure seeing as Shinichi had acted strangely the moment the woke up). He then went to prepare an easy meal of rice porridge for his detective. Though he did not expect that halfway through boiling the contents, Shinichi would join him in the kitchens. He had expected the medicine to sedate his detective for a few hours, not thirty minutes.

"Shinichi!" Kaito left the stove unattended as he rushed towards the tilting detective. "You're supposed to stay in bed!"

"But Kai-chan isn't there…" There were actual tears running slowly down the cheeks. "Kai-chan left and Shin-chan didn't want to be alone."

Whilst a dependent and clingy detective was cute, it was also really worrying. The changes in Shinichi's personality was too extreme; one minute it was this childish version, another was his normal self.

"I only left the bedroom to cook something for you." Kaito sat Shinichi down on the counter stool, taking note that his detective was still naked. "Why haven't you put any clothes on?" He was about to walk towards the living room where he remembered a throw blanket was but a hand shot to grab at his wrist. "Shinichi, your cold would become worst this way."

"But Kai-chan is leaving again. Shin-chan doesn't want Kai-chan to leave. It's cold and Shin-chan doesn't like it."

"That's why I'm going to grab a blanket for you, to keep you warm…"

"But Kai-chan is leaving! Kai-chan never leaves Shin-chan!"

Kaito considered briefly about the merits of using a sleeping pallet to knock his detective out. This version of Shinichi was too clingy and anxious, it was not a good mix.

"Kai-chan." The tears fell in rapid succession, cascading down flushed cheeks like waterfall. "Does Kai-chan not like Shin-chan anymore? Is Kai-chan thinking Shin-chan to be annoying? Kai-chan is leaving because Shin-chan is bad right? Please stay Kai-chan? Please? Shin-chan promises not to be selfish no more…"

"No! No. I'm not leaving you." Kaito wrapped his arms around the insecure detective. "Look, why don't I bring you to the living room, you get settled and watch some TV while I go finish off in the kitchens. Then I'll stay with you ok?"

With teary eyes, Shinichi nodded and let himself be tugged out of the kitchens by the hand. He still had the sad look on his face, tears were still pouring down with no signs of stopping. It pained Kaito's heart to see the tears and not know what to do about them.

Once settled on the couch and wrapped up in a fleecy blanket, Kaito patted Shinichi on the head like a child before returning to the kitchens to finish off the porridge. He plated up a small bowl, just in case Shinichi was feeling hungry, and returned to the living room only to find his detective having tilted to the side and apparently fast asleep. Sighing in relief, he repositioned Shinichi to lie down on the couch as he took the bowl back to the kitchens.

True to his words, Kaito kept Shinichi company for the majority of the afternoon. He let Shinichi use his legs as pillows even though it was uncomfortable with the heat and sweat. But Kaito stayed, easing the groans and moans of an uneasy sleep with murmuring of nonsensical words and wiping away the sweat building up. From time to time, Kaito saw Shinichi's eyes opened a fraction, blue eyes scanned the area and instantly landing on Kaito, before closing once more with a smile on his face. Every time Shinichi woke, Kaito would smile back and ask how he was feeling but never receiving a reply in return.

Finally, at dusk, Shinichi opened his eyes to the fullest.

"Kai-chan stayed." There was a rather satisfied smile on Shinichi's face. "Kai-chan stayed for Shin-chan."

"Of course I will." Kaito lifted his hand towards the forehead, it was still burning hot. Even after all the sweat and sleeping, the fever had not eased off. "However, my leg is falling asleep. Do you mind if I stretch my legs and go to the kitchens for something to drink?"

Shinichi nodded, eyes bright (too bright actually now that Kaito thought about it. It looked more like an insane sort of bright rather than the innocent child-like gleam) and allowed Kaito to slip away before snuggling at the still warm spot.

Kaito gave a worried glance over at the snuggling detective, slowly working away the pins-and-needles of his legs, before heading for the kitchens. He reheated the porridge and grabbed himself a snack bar and drink. Glancing at the clock, he that it was time for Shinichi's medication and he inwardly groaned, hoping he did not have to deal with another fussy Shinichi.

"Shinichi? I brought you some food." He announced, hoping the prospect of something to eat will soften his detective.

"Yay! Food!" Shinichi sat up a bit too quickly and groaned. "I don't feel so good…" Shinichi clutched at his hair, eyes squeezed together, and bent over in his seated position.

It was rare for Shinichi to admit to feeling anything other than _fine_ so Kaito had good reason to begin motherhenning.

"Did you hit your head?" Kaito examined the area Shinichi had his hand to. There were no obvious signs of trauma and he could not feel any bumps. "Do you feel pain? Nauseous?"

"Dizzy…" Shinichi rested his head on Kaito's shoulders. "Like spinning dizzy…"

"Alright, breath slowly for a while then open your eyes." Kaito kept a hand on the cheeks as he moved to rest Shinichi to the back of the couch. Seeing blue eyes looking back at him, he noticed they were now becoming more unfocused than before. "Shinichi? Talk to me."

"It's...hot." Shinichi struggles out of the blanket but Kaito kept wrapping Shinichi back up. "Please Kai-chan? Too hot…"

"No Shinichi, it's for your own good. You've sweated the whole time and you're damp. Keep the blanket on you."

"But Shin-chan's hot." Shinichi whine. "Shin-chan doesn't want the blanket."

"Shinichi, please listen to what I say and keep the blanket." Kaito sighed, wondering whether the actual child Shinichi was as difficult as this version he was facing.

"Is Kai-chan mad now? Because Shin-chan is bad?" Shinichi looked as though he would cry at any moment now. It scared Kaito at how emotional his detective was all of a sudden.

"No Shinichi. I'm not mad." He tries to comfort Shinichi, only to have his detective shy away from the touch.

"Kai-chan is mad, Shin-chan knows. Kai-chan only sounds like that when he's really mad at something and Shin-chan is making Kai-chan mad so Shin-chan is bad." Shinichi was crying again. By now, Kaito was really out of his wits and had no idea how to deal with Shinichi.

"No, no. Please stop crying. Ka-I mean I'm not mad." Great, now Shinichi has Kaito referring to himself in third person. It seemed that this cold was not only dangerous in the normal sense, but it was also dangerous for Kaito's mental health. "Shinichi, listen to me."

Shinichi scrubbed clear of his tears with the back of his hands as he turned to face Kaito.

"Shinichi, I'm not angry, or mad, or anything like that. I'm just...well...at a lost as to what to do right now. You're definitely not well and I wanted to make you better. But I can't do that if you continuously have a fear of me leaving you."

The tears were threatening to come back but Shinichi rubbed them away before it could fall. It was like a child trying to be strong but knew he did not have the strength. A farce in a sense. But Kaito could only smile at the behaviour.

"No matter what your mind is telling you, I'm not leaving you. This anxiety is all because of the fever and the sooner we bring it down, the better you will be."

Shinichi nodded.

"Good. Now, eat up and take the medicine ok? I'll be back with a towel and some clothes for you."

Kaito waited for Shinichi to take the bowl and spoon, eyeing the porridge with suspicion before glancing up. Kaito smiled and encourage Shinichi to take the first bite, knowing the detective might not feel hungry but his detective does need the energy to fight off the illness.

Once Kaito was sure Shinichi would finish his food like he told him to, Kaito went to grab something for Shinichi to change into. He was about to bring it downstairs when apparently Shinichi followed him up like a lost puppy.

"Shinichi, have you finished the food? Have you taken your medicine?" He sighed, setting down the pajamas onto the bed. Kaito eyed the bowl in his detective's hands, which had signs of having been eaten but not as much as Kaito would have liked. He only hoped that his detective had at least taken the pills on the table.

"Kai-chan suddenly left…" Shinichi guiltily looked at the bowl. "But Shin-chan took the yucky stuff! And kept the blanket!"

Kaito noted the clumsy knot tied in front of his detective, holding up the material and covering a majority of his skin. As much as he would love to go downstairs to check on the validity of his detective's words, he knew that leaving the room would only cause more anxiety for Shinichi.

"It's alright Shinichi." He patted the damp hair. Blue eyes gleamed as it looked at Kaito with clear signs of admiration. "You did well." He took the bowl away and set it to the side. "Now let's have you changed and laid back down on the bed. Wouldn't want you to get dizzy and bump your head somewhere."

Shinichi obediently followed all of Kaito's instruction (unnervingly enough, Kaito swore the next time his detective begins to show signs of a cold, he would not let him out of his sight. He thought Shinichi would be fine with a bit of a sniffle, who knew it could turn this bad) and crept back into bed. Kaito stayed until Shinichi fell back asleep before clearing up the bowls and crockery in the kitchen.

"Urg, I feel like crap." Shinichi moaned in the dark, he could barely see the signs of light between the curtain. Next to him, Kaito shifted in between sleep and wakefulness.

It took several minutes for Kaito to open his eyes and instantly seeing Shinichi, he began to rapid fire question about his health.

"How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Do you feel heated still? Is your throat sore?"

"Calm down Kaito." Shinichi answered with a small cough. His throat felt dry but no signs of having developed a sore throat yet. "I just have a headache. And maybe a bit nauseous but I'm sure that will pass."

"Thank goodness you're back to first person." Kaito instantly slumped forward, landing on Shinichi's torso like a deflated balloon.

"First person?" Curiosity bit into Shinichi as he wondered what Kaito meant.

"Promise me never to get sick again." There was fear in Kaito's eyes and Shinichi did not have the heart to tell him that sickness is often unpredictable.

Although he was tempted to ask how bad it was or what had happened, Shinichi had a feeling what Kaito experienced was worse than how Shinichi felt at the moment. So despite knowing he would never learn about what occurred during his bout of sickness, Shinichi only said "Thanks for taking care of me" and gave Kaito a kiss at the temples. He would have gone for the mouth but he really did not want to risk infecting Kaito.

After all, he had taken care of Kaito when he last had a flu and that was a _horrible_ and _nightmare inducing_ experience.


	11. Explosions

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Just something to fill time...

* * *

 **11 Explosions**

 _Whenever the hero escapes a predicament, it is often accompanied by an explosion that they either walk away in a casual saunter, or dive face first into the dirt just as the explosion sounds._

"Alright, we've subdued the culprits." Kaito declared with a brush of his trousers as he stood up to admire his handiwork that included a rather colorfully bound man using different coloured duct tape. "What about your end Shinichi?" Kaito glanced over at the still crouched detective who was busy trying to remove the various bits of plastic packaging from the inside a cardboard box.

Suddenly, the detective swore out loud, raising alarm bells in Kaito's head.

"What is it?" He rushed over to the crouched detective.

"Thirteen minutes..." A pair of concerned blue eyes looked up at him. Kaito repeated nearly the exact same phrase of swearing.

"And the police would not be here for another twenty five." He glanced about, eyes landing on the small huddle of injured people at the corner of the shop.

"I can try to disarm it." Shinichi rolled up his sleeves with grim determination. "Kaito, if you can..."

"I'll start the evacuation and alert the police about bringing a bomb squad." He nodded.

With several succinct commands and various hand motions, Kaito managed to direct all the injured out of the shop towards a safe location. It was lucky that the shop was so far away from the rest of the town and located at such a remote area.

"At least we could minimize the damage." Kaito muttered to himself as he walked back towards the shop with the intention of entering and helping out Shinichi. He left clear instructions to the most healthy of the hostages, telling the person to keep a close eye on the culprit and to shoot him with the tranquilizer dart should he show any signs of waking up.

"Kaito?! Why did you come back?" Shinichi nearly ran into him at the entrance.

"To give you a hand of course." He let himself grin even at such a dangerous situation.

"No time." The frantic glance behind was quickly replaced with quick action where Shinichi took hold of Kaito's wrists and pulled him further from the shop front. They took off at running speed down the cobblestone path in the direction where Kaito left the injured escapees.

None too soon, the shop erupted in flames alongside a loud explosion. The pair dived down into the ground covering their heads with their own arms. Several more explosions sounded and they remained still until only the roaring of the flames were left. Thankfully, they were far enough away to avoid the licking flames.

Looking away from the burning building, Kaito looked at Shinichi, studying the profile image before bursting into a fit of giggles. Shinichi turned to face him, eyes clouded with confusion.

"I'd say you light up my night alright. Not too shabby for a date night. Though next time, leave the fireworks to me OK?" Kaito leaned in, placing a kiss onto Shinichi's nose before standing up gracefully and extended out a hand to the detective to haul him up.


	12. Request: Passage of Time

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: You know the feeling when you have a lot of ideas one moment and the next they seem to suddenly poof into non-existence? Well, that's happening with me a lot lately.

The following is a request from Hikaru Yami 999: "Kaito makes an offhand comment like"I'll love you/live with you forever if you do x, y and z" and Shinichi does them shyly and tries to hint that he did it to Kaito. Kaito either does not realize or he does realize but pretends just so that he can tease the other."

This was quite hard to write actually, I hope I did the prompt justice. Also to reply 'Guest' who left a prompt, I do take any and all kinds of prompt (I generally fill them within a short time but...well...slumps and the lack of muses kinda puts a dampener onto things) but the M versions will unlikely be hosted on but I will post a 'clean' version here. I do have an AO3 account (same name), so you might want to look there (not now, it's empty. I have a T/M rating in the works and I doubt FF would let me post)

* * *

 **12 Hikaru Yami 999 Request: Passage of Time**

 _In every plot, there's always a character too shy to actually voice out their desires. Thankfully, there's also always some thoughtful and kind (and gentle and caring) character that just somehow knows and offers the chance of a lifetime._

It was a rather normal night, or as normal as any other night could be that involved one Kuroba Kaito in the guise of Kaito KID, which included a rather colourful heist, ample swearing, and numerous changes of clothings (forceful and involuntarily of course). Thankfully for Shinichi, being associated with Kuroba Kaito on a near-daily basis gave him an edge of sorts.

After all KID, and therefore Kaito, likes to keep his waking hours marine-life free and by angering (or annoying) a particular detective with bright blue eyes too much during any time of the day (or night, that had been a loophole once upon a time but Shinichi ' _mended_ ' it with careful application aquatic animal decals inside the fence of the Kuroba residence) could easily spell aquatic-related dangers often at the least expected time.

Shinichi stood casually as he observed the string of police cars leaving the area at an absurd speed. In the distance, he could see the dummy glider flying away swiftly and elegantly in the wind. Though he was focused on the surroundings, Shinichi still managed to detect the landing of soft soles on concrete floor along with the faintest rustling of cloth in the air.

"I knew it wouldn't trick you." KID commented at a distance.

Shinichi did not bother to look back to check, knowing full well what the smug smile on KID's face would look like even without any visual cue. Rather, he leaned forward towards the edge of the building, using the ledge as support for his weight.

"Why didn't you join in on the chase?" KID's curiosity and worry seeped through in his question. "Are you hurt by any chance?"

It would not be the first time for Shinichi to attend a heist with an injury.

"No, just wanted to enjoy the view." He had chased KID for nearly a year as himself, known about Kuroba Kaito for nine months, heard about the reasons behind the thievery for six, and have mustered up the courage to ask Kaito out three months ago. While it was both fun and difficult to coordinate dates, what with Shinichi's propensity to run into crimes at every waking moment and Kaito's performance (both legal and non-legal shows -cough _heist_ cough-) schedules, Shinichi found they could not spend as much time as he liked as a couple.

"What's on your mind Meitantei?" KID walked closer towards Shinichi, footsteps making deliberate noise so as to not startle Shinichi. He smiled at the thief's concern for his well-being. KID stood close to Shinichi, their shoulders nearly touched but KID remained _professional_ and kept his distance as his thief's persona would not allow him to move any closer (on the other hand, if it were _Kaito_ , the magician would have no doubt latched onto Shinichi the moment he showed any openings).

"Just wondering, what it would take for us to spend more time together." He mused out loud. "We barely see each other as it is, maybe if we lived together…" He muttered softly, hoping the thief did not hear the despondency in his voice.

"Hm…" KID fell into silent contemplation. Shinichi savoured the moment of silent companionship, reveling in the comforting air between them. They might have only been together for a short while, and most would find it strange at how easy they interacted with each other, but with the disclosing of mutual secrets, they created a bond that none would understand.

"KID?" Finally turning to look at the thief, who had his arms outstretched with the gem held up towards the moon. Shinichi knew the ritual by heart already and left KID to do his check.

Watching closely, he hoped and dearly wished for this gem to be the one that the thief was looking for. Unfortunately, it was another failure and KID lowered his arms with a sigh.

"I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to return this for me Meitantei." KID pushed the gem over on the ledge.

Shinichi nodded, taking the gem from the hard surface and slipping it into his pockets. "Have you had dinner yet?" Though Shinichi already knew the answer to the question, he wanted to see if he could spend just a bit more time together. Kaito had commented, some time ago, that he rarely have a full meal before heists so Shinichi knew Kaito, and therefore KID, would be hungry by now.

"I hear there's a family diner not too far from here, two blocks East to be exact." KID jumped up onto the ledge. It was as close to a promise of meeting up as Shinichi could receive from him. "Well, until next moon Meitantei."

By the time Shinichi uttered out "Have a nice evening yourself," KID had already flown away in the opposite direction to what he had pointed out just moments ago.

Shinichi entered the indicated diner half an hour later after dropping off the gem with Hakuba who was still on the scene and scouring the hall for evidence. He gave the briefest account of what happened, along with asking the British detective to pass on a message about his visit to the Police HQ the next day.

"Shinichi!" Kaito waved enthusiastically. There was already a nice spread of food on the table, waiting to be eaten. Shinichi could not help but smile a little at the preparedness. "So? How was your night?"

"Fun as always." The pair quickly tucked into the food, both have skipped dinner in preparation for the heist. Their conversation did not resume until the pair have had an adequate fill of their food.

There was this expectant look on Kaito's eyes, a strange sort of twinkling that Shinichi could not figure out.

Coughing, Shinichi decided to preempt the magician before he had any strange thoughts. "Kaito," he paused, not too certain how to proceed with his next words. Kaito held up his hands to stop Shinichi, to which he only tilted his head in response.

"I think I know what you wanted to ask of me." Kaito answered, taking hold of Shinichi's hand that was nursing the warm cup of tea. "But I don't think it's a good idea yet. I do appreciate the thought though."

It took a while for Shinichi to decipher what the magician was talking about. It seems his muttered words at the end was heard by KID.

"So...it's a no?" Shinichi tries to snuff out the disappointed tone in his voice and even out his expression. Though he was quite sure that _something_ must have shown.

"It's not really a definite 'no' but at least not for now. I mean, we've barely known each as it is…"

Shinichi sighed. It really sounded as though Kaito was expecting them to split up after a year. Though he really could not blame the magician, after all, who would want to associate themselves with a death magnet.

"Tell you what." Kaito announced, probably taking pity on Shinichi at this moment.

Shinichi sat closer, tugging his chair further towards the table in the hopes of hearing every word.

"Hm…" Kaito paused, most likely creating drama rather than actually needing the time for consideration. He took a moment to pull out a sheet of paper and began jotting down things. Once finished, he folded the paper and pushed it towards Shinichi. "This is my response." With a peck on Shinichi's cheeks, Kaito strolled leisurely out the door.

Shinichi frowned at the sheet of paper, partially scared and unsure about the tricks it may hide. Pulling it closer towards him, he carefully unfolded the paper. It was written much like a KID riddle.

私は貴方にこの季節の要求：

一、フラーワから作れたの家

一、雪下に飛び散れたのブラケット

一、深い海に沈んだ満月

。。。

この代償として、貴方の花畑に青いバラを植えます

He muttered softly as he read, mentally dissecting each line, "I present to you the request of the seasons; a house made from flower, a flying blanket underneath the snow, a full moon sunken into deep waters…in return, I shall plant my blue roses in your flower bed." Leaning back into the chair, Shinichi glared at the bland ceiling. Thankfully, none of the servers were too bothered by his now-grouchy aura. "Why do you have to make it so difficult…" He muttered.

It was only partially like a KID riddle, in the fact that Shinichi was sure there were more meanings hidden deep inside the words. But at the same time, it was very simple and direct. Give Kaito a house made of flower, a blanket that flies underneath the snow, and a moon sunk into the sea. Seems straightforward if not for the three dots at the end.

"However," Shinichi declared to himself as he walked out of the diner, "I am up for the challenge." He vowed against the full moon hanging up in the sky. In response, the wind blew against Shinichi in a chilling embrace as though to reply in Kaito's place.

A fortnight later, Shinichi asked Kaito out on a date again. It was lucky that the pair of them had some time off, even more lucky that they were both free on the same day.

"So?" Kaito asked, shucking off his shoes and exchanging them for a pair of cotton slippers. Shinichi stood close to the kitchens, leaning on the wall for support as he waited.

"Nothing, just thought it would be nice to be able to spend the night together." Shinichi saw the way Kaito quirked an eyebrow in a rather suggestive manner. "Not like that, just, you know, dinner and maybe...cuddling on the couch of something." Shinichi avoided all forms of eye contact by that point, intent on focusing on plating up the food on the stove.

Kaito moved quietly to embrace Shinichi, resting his arms on the slim waist and head on the shoulders.

"I didn't even hint at anything, Meitantei." He whispered softly in Shinichi's ear. "Are you being naughty now?"

Shinichi elbowed the magician away, huffing and trying to restrain the blush from forming. Though by the smirk on the magician's face, Shinichi seems to be failing at the latter.

"Here, take these to the table." Turning his back towards Kaito, he ignored the searching eyes as he walked over to set up the rest of the dishes.

Dinner would be a simple affair, western style pasta with a side of salad.

"It's not like you to make such a simple meal." Kaito sat close to Shinichi, "you normally make more than enough, having me take home meals because you think I don't eat enough. Just so you know, I do eat better than you. What with Aoko volunteering her services as my caterer and Jii-chan stocking up my kitchens. You on the other hand…"

"I do eat plenty." Shinichi forcefully stabbed at the spaghetti on the plate, "I do have three square meals."

"Of which two of them consists of you drinking only coffee." Kaito flicked at Shinichi's head. "Really, if I weren't coming over, you'd be having that for dinner as well."

"That's it. I'm not giving you your desert." Shinichi huffed, ignoring the squawk and pained pleas. Though not for long as the puppy eyes were brought out, complete with twinkling tears and quivering mouth. "Alright, alright. I'll let you have desert."

"Yay! Shin-chan is the best!"

"Use that name one more time and I'm throwing the desert away."

The rest of their dinner was spent in laughter, with playful thieving of food on both parties. When desert was brought out, Kaito looked in awe. On a plain white plate stood a rather ornate gingerbread house, complete with a garden and two gingerbread men standing side by side, one with messy brown frosting decorating the head, another with a strange little bit sticking out on top.

"You made a house." Kaito commented, carefully caressing the messy-haired gingerbread man. "And you made us."

"I had time on my hands lately." There might be a few more months until Christmas, but Shinichi felt like making _something_ for the magician. He considered baking a pumpkin pie, as it was the season, but it just did not feel right. Hence, the gingerbread house because of the abundance of spices on the market lately. "Well? What are you waiting for."

"It looks to nice to be taken down…" Kaito poked at the fondant flower attached to the wall of the house.

"Food is meant to be eaten Kaito, not to be worshipped."

"Of course." His hands moved towards the neat-haired gingerbread man. "Then does this mean I get to _devour_ you?" With a mischievous grin, he picked up the biscuit and gave the frosting hair a tentative lick. "Mmmm, delicious."

"KAITO!" The suggestive comment was just too much for Shinichi.

Several weeks later, Shinichi asked Kaito for a date again. This time, instead of meeting up at the mansion, Shinichi asked Kaito to meet him in front of the train station.

"Where are we going today then?" Lately, the weather had been becoming chillier and Shinichi thought it might be nice to enjoy the sunshine while they can. Hence, asking the magician to meet up with though. Though, due to many circumstances, mostly to do with the strange string of crimes that Shinichi was able to accidentally stumble across, the meeting time was pushed back until dusk.

"I saw there's going to be an event downtown and thought you might like to come with to see…"

"It's not another Sherlock convention or anything right?" Kaito questioned wearily, "the last time we went there, you were flocked by fans. I has half afraid they were going to rip you apart."

"You're just over exaggerating." Though Shinichi do remembered being nearly unclothed by the time he escaped the grabby hands. He shuddered, it was not a memory he wanted to remember.

"Yea, as if." Kaito scoffed in reply, taking up Shinichi's hand at the same time. "So? You going to lead the way?"

They took the train to Shiodome, chatting about random subjects along the way. They arrived just in time as night truly fell in the area. Shinichi led them towards a particularly bright area in the darkness.

"Wow." Kaito exclaimed at the sight.

Before them are thousands upon thousands of tiny lights littered across the ground. The only area without light was the path leading right into the middle of the square. They treaded carefully down the mock cobblestone path, enjoying the silent company as they admire the scene. Though to be perfectly honest, Shinichi had his eyes trained on Kaito's profile rather than the surroundings.

"I never took you to be a romantic." There was a tone of disbelief in his voice. "Normally, I'm the one doing these grand gestures."

"Well, you might have rubbed off on me." Shinichi scratched his cheeks in embarrassment. "Besides, if I don't do something, Ran would give me a lecture again."

"So it was because of Mouri-chan then?" Kaito further teased. "If she didn't force you then you'd never think of something like this yourself?"

"Which answer would not land me in trouble?"

"Hm...let me think…"

The lights in the surrounding slowly changed colour, from the previous luminescent green to a cool blue before shifting into faded purple. The heavens, as though sensing this change, shifted as well. The soft chilly breeze that had graced the area stilled itself and soft white flakes fell from the skies.

"Well, your gesture earned you some credit so I guess I'll let you go this time." Kaito leaned in and gently pecked Shinichi's cheeks. "Though next time, don't have Mouri-chan remind you."

"I can't really promise you that but I'll try." Shinichi was not really the romantic type, but if it was for Kaito, he would be willing to try.

Another several weeks passed, and the days were steadily becoming colder. But inside the mansion was quite warm, especially since Shinichi and Kaito could curl in front of the fireplace. Christmas was just around the corner, which meant the winter holidays and that Shinichi could spend more time with Kaito now that they do not have to worry about school attendance.

They were both enjoying the silent atmosphere, each with a book in hand as they become engrossed with the words on paper. Then, without prompting, Kaito asked his detective, lying across his laps, "Are you parents coming back for the holidays?"

Shinichi had been enjoying the lazy patting from the magician, it was a rather soothing gesture and he had nearly fallen asleep several times despite reading the captivating book in his hands. He tries to remember his last phone conversation with his mother, which consisted of mainly his mother complaining about his father of his 'possible' affairs, and shook his head.

"Not likely. I think 'tou-san has a book signing to do in New York and 'kaa-san would likely go with him. You know, to stop possible love affairs or some such thing."

"You're spending it alone?" Concern and worry laced Kaito's voice and Shinichi felt warmed by that.

"You're with me aren't you? So I won't be alone." It was unlike Shinichi to flirt but when the occasion presents itself, he would take it. The blush on Kaito's face was worth it.

"Of course you won't. I did promise." Kaito accompanied the response with a kiss to the tips of his nose. "Do you have anything planned then?"

"Ran's been trying to have me go with her to the Suzuki's holiday villa down by Nagasaki, but I really don't think I should become a third wheel…" Ran had just recently been confessed to by one Sera Masumi and they were just beginning their relationship. He felt it would do more harm than good if he was present. After all, Sera had once also crushed (or at least fan-worshipped) him and he was once Ran's long-time crush. It would just make things awkward.

"You could have just said no." Kaito poked at his nose. "But no fear, I can easily plan for a day trip or two. Do you have any place in mind?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd accompany to a trip in a few days time. A friend of mine invited me to stay at Hokkaido…" Shinichi would have fidgeted if both his hands were not occupied.

"You wanted _us_ to have a private getaway?" The subsequent leer and suggestive wink took out all of Shinichi's patience and he playfully smack the magician's forehead. "Ow, no need to be so rough Shinichi."

"Serves you right." He huffed. The doorbell chose to ring at that very moment and Shinichi stood up even as Kaito protested at being thrown about like a rag doll.

Kaito looked up, internally debating whether to follow Shinichi around the house just to annoy his detective but before he could reach a decision, said detective came back with a rather ornate box in his hands. Curiosity got the better of him, and it most likely showed on his face as his detective displayed a rather satisfied grin on his face.

"Is that for me?" Kaito asked eagerly, edging forward towards Shinichi. "Is it because I've been a good boy and you bought be a present?"

Shinichi blushed. "Must you make an innuendo out of my every action?"

"I'm an opportunist." Kaito dragged Shinichi back to his own level, which was on the floor. He then proceeded to attach himself to Shinichi's side like a leech.

"Here." Shinichi thrusted the small box into Kaito's hands. "And before you say anything, no this is not because you were a good boy. Quite on the contrary."

Kaito good naturedly huffed but took the box into his hands. It was just the size of his palm, a sturdy white box wrapped in a satin blue ribbon. The light weight of the box gave nothing of its contents away.

"You know, if you want to propose to me, there are other ways." He joked, pulling on the end of the ribbon. "Though if that's the case, I'd have to say you are way ahead of yourself young man." He playfully tapped on Shinichi's nose, resulting in a small blush across the pale cheeks.

Shinichi retaliated with a hit on the magician's head, not deeming his comments even worthy of words. He questioned his love for the magician once again, what made him fall for the idiotic, impulsive, and annoying man.

Kaito's eyes widened at the dark blue opal sitting on top of a velvet cushion inside the box. "Ok, what's the occasion?" He asked suspiciously. It was unlike his detective to suddenly give gifts. That was more of Kaito's thing.

"Remember the performance a month ago? I had intended to give this to you then..."

"So this _is_ for my good behaviour." Kaito's grin widened as he took the stone out of the box. It was rather large for an opal and it must have cost a fortune. Though that still did not answer the question of why Shinichi decided to spend such money, and on something as useless as a stone.

"No, I just don't want you to be at a place where I can't keep an eye on..." Shinichi muttered softly, earning a quizzical look. He coughed, not really wanting to state his reason but he knew Kaito would not relent until he spoke. "I know you have a busy day schedule so I thought I might help you on your _night job_. I don't think it'd do you any good to fly all the way to Australia just to check on a single stone so I spared you the trouble and bought it..."

"Technically, my days and nights blend together…" Kaito edged closer to Shinichi, pulling his detective close enough to wrap his arms around the rather slim waist. The blush was more prominent from his perspective, though there was an underlying hint of worry in the blue eyes. Going over the statement, Kaito realised his detective was afraid of him leaving. "You do know I won't leave you here by your lonesome right? I'll most likely take you with me on the trip just so I can make sure no unwanted hands touch what is mine."

Shinichi was not sure how to react to such possessiveness, so instead, he squirmed in hopes of escaping the tight hold.

"Shinichi," Kaito knew instinctively something was wrong when his detective turned silent, "what's the matter?"

"Nothing…" He focused his gaze on the burning fireplace, hoping Kaito would drop the matter. It had been a while since he last brought up the subject and he did not feel like revisiting an old would just yet, especially with the upcoming holidays.

Kaito frowned but realized his detective is very unlikely to divulge any further. Not willing to dwell on such gloom, Kaito changed the topic to something lighter. "I just received an invite to a Christmas Party performance, do you think you can come with me?"

The topic seemed to have done the trick as Shinichi's eyes lit up at the possibility of spending Christmas eve together. Kaito mentally pat himself on his back for averting possible crisis.

Their holidays as a couple passed without much drama, both basked in the each other's presence whenever possible. It helped that it snowed heavily, which meant running across less crime and rescheduling of performances, forcing them to remain indoors for extended amount of time. Though, Shinichi noticed Kaito seemed a bit agitated at times, glancing worriedly out of the large windows on the second floor balcony that overlooks the backyard. When asked, Kaito only shrugged off the concern and proceeded to distract Shinichi with a trick, something that he fell for each and every time.

When spring came, Shinichi thought it would be a good idea to go away for a short while. He proposed a short trip down to the Kyushu region. He wanted to take advantage of their shared down time. He knew Kaito would soon have his hands full with performances and travelling all across Japan during the weekends even though they were technically still studying.

"You know," Kaito commented as they dragged their luggage to the check-in counter, "if I were the suspicious type, I'd be interrogating you for your recent bout of romantic gestures."

"What do you mean?" Shinichi passed over their passports to the stewardess at the counter. There was a quizzical look on her face, one that seemed to ask why they are not related given the extreme similarities between their facial characteristics. Shinichi shrugged off the impending question, letting the woman do her job as he turned back to fully face Kaito.

"First there were dinners, then gifts, now a trip away. If I were female, I'd be thinking whether you want to get down and dirty." He wagged his brows, earning a giggle from the stewardess.

"I thought that's what...c...couples...do…" Shinichi replied shyly. It was still difficult and embarrassing to say it out loud even though he does refer to Kaito as his boyfriend in his mind.

Without looking, Shinichi could feel the shining and beaming eyes from Kaito, as though proud of him for admitting. He quickly regretted having invited Kaito for the trip, knowing full well said magician would most likely tease him for the whole duration.

"However, I _know_ you." Kaito admitted a fraction of a second later. "And you don't really have many dirty thoughts on your mind, so I can take this as you just wanting us to spend some time together rather than you having your wicked ways with me."

It was both strange and comforting to know that Kaito could read him so easily, with as much ease as he could read the magician's intention at least, and it was because of this that Shinichi could pull off grand gestures without it having perceived as something else other than him being a good and attentive boyfriend. Although, that is not to say it is without any for of teasing.

Their short weekend trip away turned into a two week long trip, with Kaito taking advantage of the crimeless days and extending their holiday. Shinichi was not sure whether said magician planned for this to happen, and as much as he wanted to think this was all spontaneous, the fact that they manage to find rooms at some of the places they visited made Shinichi think twice. Though, Shinichi did not confront Kaito about this, willing to go along with everything and trying all the activities Kaito had picked out.

But as all trips do, theirs came to an end with the pair of the flying back to Tokyo. Kaito had been rather nervous on their return trip, and even offering to accompany Shinichi back to Beika. It might be a normal occurrence for Kaito to walk Shinichi back home during the daytime, but seeing as they took a late afternoon flight, they did not arrive back in Tokyo until nightfall. Normally, Kaito would have excused himself, or Shinichi would have insisted for Kaito to return back to Ekoda, but this Kaito had be adamant in taking the taxi with Shinichi.

"Don't you have classes tomorrow?" Shinichi looked at Kaito with concern. He really did not wish for his magician to wreck his health for the sake of spending a few more minutes in each other's presence. If Kaito made the trip to Beika with him, it meant doubling his travel time and cutting into his sleep.

"There's no need for you to worry yourself over." Kaito patted on Shinichi's hand, and quickly taking hold in a rather tight embrace. "I wanted to do this."

They arrived half an hour later, luggage deposited in front of the gates. Shinichi had leaned over to the driver to ask him to stay for a few more minutes but Kaito quickly dismissed the driver.

"Kaito." Shinichi admonished with a crease of his brow. "Why did you tell the driver to go?"

"Because, there's something I want to do first." He opened the gate, even though he did not have the key. Shinichi sighed at the display of skills but chose not to comment further. He followed the magician up the path with their luggage in tow. But instead of entering the front door, Kaito merely pushed their luggage inside the threshold and directed them around to the backyard.

The backyard had been transformed from the once flat and plain grassy surface to an area littered with fairy lights and flowers. There were also new additions to the backyard, several small bushes up by the fence that looked too large to have grown over the course of the few weeks they were away. Shinichi was sure if he went over and examine the ground, he would no doubt find clear signs of unearthed soil. There were several, rather small bushes closer to the house, next to the patio furniture, which housed a small bud. Walking over, Shinichi could see the dark blue colour that looked entirely too unnatural.

"It's real." Kaito whispered in his ear, somehow having approached Shinichi inconspicuously. "I had a bit of help from a couple of friends. It took me a bit of time but they seemed to have grown quite beautifully don't you think?"

Indigo eyes moved from the small bud to Shinichi's face. There was a moment that felt like an eternity to Shinichi, somehow the world only consisted of him and Kaito and the moon shining high above. Without warning, Kaito fell to one knee, extending a hand to hold onto Shinichi's own.

"I know it's a bit of a jump, and that it's out of the norm and all. We might not have known each other for long, nor did we spend much time together. But, I feel that it's appropriate for me to take the next big step with you." Kaito pulled something from his back pockets, Shinichi could already guess that it was. "We might not be able to legalise our joining, but I would like to consider you as my life-long partner, even unofficially." He flipped open the lid to reveal not a ring like Shinichi had hoped, but rather a pair of silver bangle bracelet.

"That's…" Shinichi reached out towards the piece of jewelry but not touching the metal. Even under the dim lighting, the metal seemed to be gleaming.

"It's not a ring, I know. I didn't want it to be a ring." Kaito glanced away, "I thought it would be more appropriate this way...after all, you're a detective and I am a thief…"

The meaning was not lost on Shinichi. Detective's cuff the criminal and Kaito is KID. If Shinichi stretched his imagination, the bangles could look like handcuffs. Instead of answering out loud, he took a bangle in his hand and knelt onto the grass to secure the bangle onto Kaito's left wrists.

"Does this mean I get to arrest you?" Shinichi looked deep into Kaito's eyes, hand not letting go of the rather warm wrist.

"The cuff's not even secured." Kaito took the other bangle to secure it onto Shinichi's extended wrist, but the tranquilizer watch was in the way. A quick removal of the item, and Shinichi considered wearing the watch on his other wrist from now on, and the bangle was secured. "Now you can say you've arrested me."

Normally, Kaito would be the one to initiate any form of intimacy, but Shinichi was more than happy to pounce on the magician this time. Several month ago, he was worried they were not spending enough time together as a couple, that he wanted so desperately to live with the magician. Now, Kaito seemed to have one-upped him and proposed to spend an eternity together. It was not unexpected, at the same time a surprise, as Shinichi had only hoped they would share a room together and here they were, sharing a future.


	13. Unconscious

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I've been really busy lately and this was pre-written some time ago. I just thought I'd post this. I'm still taking requests (I was so happy to see the requests and I've actually taken time out to write them instead of say...write the other ongoing fics I have) though I only have 2 done at the moment (still proofreading) so I'll hopefully have them out within 24hrs. BTW, kind of suggestive content? If your head's not in the gutter then it should be fine, otherwise...yea.

* * *

 **13 Unconscious**

 _Whenever someone is kidnapped, it is always because of a blow to the back of their heads. Or, whenever there is an attack on the protagonist of the story, it is always with a back attack._

"Ugh." Were the first thoughts that came to mind when Shinichi's consciousness returned. There was a throbbing pain at the back of his head and he knew immediately what had happened. "Not again." He groaned softly, eyes opening a sliver to avoid potentially bright lights.

"Welcome back to the land of living." The voice was too chirpy and preppy to be anyone else other than Kaito. Shinichi opened his eyes fully to see the magician strapped and bound tightly to a chair.

"How long have I been out?" He tries to move but found himself bound as well. Though it seemed he was only handcuffed behind his back and taped around the ankles instead of the extreme measures around Kaito.

"You mean from the time I woke up or just in general?" Kaito was taking this all too easily. Shinichi suspected the magician had a plan but if it were the case, then why are they still here?

"Either would be fine." His mind still felt like cotton and he took the time to properly wake up.

"Around two hours since I woke up. Most likely half a day since we were abducted from the streets."

"And how many times did it take for them to put you in that straightjacket, bound you like a psychotic patient, and added extra measures to stop you from escaping?" Shinichi refused to believe the magician had not tried anything before he woke up. It was only natural for him to try and break free of his confines.

"Three times." Kaito admitted in embarrassment.

"Yet we're both still here." Shinichi could not believe the magician failed to escape so many times. He was able to avoid the Task Force as KID but is now so easily contained.

"Well I can't just leave you here! Who knows what they'll do to you!" Both shivered as worst case scenarios played through their minds. "And besides, I had been really close all those times, but it seems Lady Luck has left me..."

"Don't blame it on luck Kaito. Just admit you're slipping." Shinichi teased, testing his bonds further. It was actually quite easy to slip out of the cuffs and still pretend to be held. Before he revealed his currently free state, he need to learn more about their situation.

Shinichi questioned Kaito much like he would interrogate a criminal, asking pointed questions about details of what the magician had seen beyond the room they were kept in.

"So no guards outside, no cameras inside, no form of security whatsoever around our immediate surrounds and yet you still couldn't escape..." Shinichi wanted to not believe this incredulous situation but it happened and it was the reality.

"Yea..." It sounded like the magician was ashamed of his inability to escape. Shinichi sighed, if the culprits behind this abduction was who he think it is, then it was _natural_ that Kaito could be held like this.

"Well," Shinichi let his arms fall to his side. He rotated his shoulders to ease the small aches. Carefully, he reached behind his head to check for potential injuries, which he found none (their captors would have taken extra care to avoid severe injuries, it figures) and proceeded to peel off the tape around his ankles. "Come on then, we have a score to settle." Confidently, he walked over to undo the bindings on the magician, making quick work of the buckles and straps. It took slightly longer when Shinichi had to pick the locks but both were freed in minimal time.

"You're my hero." Kaito swooned dramatically, falling into Shinichi's arms like a damsel in distress. Shinichi could not help but direct a fond look at the magician he was supporting.

"Yes yes. Now can we go? I promise I'll let you run free on our _captors_." Shinichi let Kaito drape himself around his shoulders, revelling at the warm weight.

"So you know who it was then? Even with so few information?" Kaito sounded surprised, though Shinichi could not blame him. The magician had never dealt with these particular people before. He was too used to the straightforwardness of his nighttime pursuers.

"Who else but my parents. Only they would set up something so elaborate and have the inside knowledge of how _you_ think and work." Shinichi opened the unlocked door with ease. Still he took a cautionary glance at both sides of the corridor before stepping out of the room. Like Kaito had described the place, it was empty. "I wonder if today's a special day..."

"Oh you oblivious detective." Kaito took the moment to lean in and kiss him quickly on the lips. "Today _is_ a special day. It's your birthday silly. That's why I brought you out of the house with the intention to celebrate with you through pampering you with lots of love. But your parents ruined my plan..." Kaito had a rather cute pout on his face that Shinichi could not help but soothe it away with a kiss of his own. The magician immediately lit up at the action.

"I'm sure we can still slip in a bit of celebration of our own. We still have several hours until the day will end and we should still be in Tokyo..." Shinichi raised a suggestive eyebrow and Kaito looks like he knew where this was heading.

" _And_ it's late at night so we should try to find a place to _sleep_ instead of making our journey back to Beika. Why, who knows how much injuries you've sustained. You _have_ been out for quite some time." Kaito wrapped a secure hand around Shinichi. "I'll have to do a _thorough examination_ to make sure you're in tip-top shape."

"Of course _Doctor Kaito_." Shinichi purred as they walked out of the dilapidated office building. True to his speculations, they were just on the outskirts of the city. He was already looking forward to what his magician had cooked up in his mind already.


	14. Request: Bites

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I have to admit, this might not be what the requester was aiming for but I was in the mood for something fluffy. Also, this is a rather long fic. Also also, I'm not too sure about the timeline of their meetings so I might be off, and some dates I just pulled out of thin air (don't flame me for it ok?).

The following is a request from Guest: "Kaito is allergic to chocolate"

* * *

 **14 Guest Request: Bites**

 _Allergies can be mental and physical, or even self-proclaimed._

Early morning and Kaito stumbled down the large staircase slap bang at the center of the Kudo mansion. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, groaning about the indecent wake-up time, as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other and avoid tripping down the staircase (it would be rather embarrassing for the otherwise graceful magician-thief to trip on a set of stairs). He could hear Shinichi flitting about the kitchen, pots and pans arranged over the stovetop to prepare for breakfast.

"Morning." Kaito mumbled, slowly ambling towards the kitchen counter and settled into the nearby stool.

"Morning." Shinichi sounded all too chippy this morning. He shoved a cup of overly sweetened mocha in front of Kaito, who beamed in reply.

"Thanks love." Giving a quick peck on the porcelain cheeks, an action that was now a built-in response for showing his appreciation, Kaito drowned himself in the brown liquid as Shinichi sipped slowly (and gracefully, and seductively, and all those rather naughty things that Kaito wished he could enact but refrained from doing so for the moment) on his own cup of black coffee.

Shinichi glanced over at Kaito briefly, somewhat coquettishly by his standard, before glancing away towards the calendar in an embarrassed manner. "So, what's your schedule like today? Are you...really busy?"

"There's the interview this morning, thankfully the reporter's coming over, then the studio recording for that afternoon show your mother had me invited to. I have a late afternoon performance, courtesy of the Suzukis again…" Kaito mentally went over his schedule. Today was jam packed.

"Sonoko has taken quite a liking in your performance now that KID has finally retired for good."

"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" Kaito teased, earning a nice blush from Shinichi. "Well, don't worry, she won't steal me away."

"That's not what I mean!" Flustered, Shinichi turned away and quickly changed the topic back to Kaito's schedule. "What about tonight?"

"I have a night show remember?" Kaito knew of his detective's tendency to forget dates but he had always made certain to remember Kaito's performance schedules so it does come of a bit strange for Shinichi to suddenly ask him. "You're coming right?'

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." There was a strange smirk showing on Shinichi's face but Kaito decided to ignore it for now. "Though I should have guessed you'd be busy today of all days…" There was another not so subtle glance at the calendar and Kaito wondered whether he missed an anniversary (KID's meeting with Conan was in April, KID's meeting with Shinichi was in September, Kaito's meeting with Shinichi was in December, Shinichi's birthday in May, his own birthday in June. He could think of no specifically memorable date in February).

Shinichi looked at him with worry etched in his face but Kaito only shook him off. "Nothing, just wondering whether I have everything set up for tonight's show." It would not do to show Shinichi he had actually forgotten an important date. Especially with how he would tease his detective about the same thing.

"When's the reporter coming over?" Shinichi glanced at the clock, it was very early, 8 in the morning. Normally, Kaito would still be sprawled inelegantly, half on top of Shinichi's bed.

"Probably in half an hour or so. I told her I only have a limited free slot today." Kaito sighed, glaring into the mocha once more. It was nearly finished and he lamented at not savouring the drink a little bit more.

As though sensing his change Shinichi reached out to the nearly empty cup and filled it up again. He placed a plate of toast, covered in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with nuts, in front of Kaito, who only beamed back.

"Shinichi~" Kaito wanted badly to glomp his detective, even with the obstructive kitchen island between them. His detective took a protective step backwards and just managed to be out of reach. Instead, he smiled brighter than before, munching on the sweetened toast as he admired Shinichi's form flitting about the kitchen (Kaito was not sure why his detective was in the kitchen so early in the morning, nor could he decipher what his detective was doing, but he loved watching Shinichi's form all the same).

Just as Kaito devoured his last bite, the doorbell rang.

"I'll handle the dishes." Shinichi took the plate from Kaito, "go answer the door. It's probably that reporter of yours. Use the sitting room."

Kaito nodded obediently and walked to escort the reporter to the mentioned room.

"I must apologise for the rushed interview." The reporter bowed deeply in the entry once realising it was Kaito who answered the door.

"No it's fine." Kaito smiled, gesturing the reporter to rise up and enter. "Anything for the fans."

"Thank you Kuroba-sensei." She was at least honest and sincere in her reply. "Sorry for the intrusion."

The over abundance of apologies unnerved Kaito a bit but he let it slide. He motioned the reporter to take a seat on one of the sofas, taking the other just adjacent.

"Do you mind if I record our interview?" She took out a pen recorder. He had to quirk an eyebrow as most would prefer the use of their smartphones for such purposes.

"No, go ahead." He motioned.

"Thank you." Placing the small back device on the coffee table in front, she rummaged about her bag and produced a small notebook. "Then shall we begin?"

The customary questions followed, about how Kaito started out his career as a magician, who his inspiration were, what upcoming performances he was having.

"It was rumoured that you'll have a cameo role in Okino Yoko's newest movie."

"Well, that's still speculative though. Nothing is confirmed yet." Kaito lied smoothly. Yoko's agents would kill him if he revealed anything. Thankfully, he was his own agent (and to an extent, Shinichi and his mother has helped him manage his magician career) and he does not have to deal with the stress of having a manager dogging his every step.

"Speaking of rumours," Kaito knew the reporter had an ulterior motive for mentioning such trivial facts. He sighed internally, easily guessing what the reporter's next questions were, "it was also rumoured you're seeing someone now."

'Called it.' He thought to himself smuggly but revealed nothing on his face. It was agreed that they will keep their relationship a secret from the media. Only their friends and family know they were together. Shinichi had deemed it too dangerous to allow outsiders to know because he has too many enemies as a detective.

"Who am I supposed to be seeing?" Instead of replying the question, Kaito wanted to know the types of rumours being spread about him.

"Well, there is the one about the actress Furuhata Megumi-san, then there is Okino Yoko herself," she began listing off various actresses that he performed for and has been on stage with. He had to hold back a physical wince when the name Chris Vineyard was mentioned.

'Should have known the tabloids would exploit even the faintest of rumours.' Kaito merely nodded in amusement as he plotted various pranks to get back at those tabloids for ruining his name.

"Although none of those are more interesting than the one concerning yourself and the owner of this house." The smile on the reporter was too predator-like for Kaito.

"Oh?" He feigned ignorance.

"Yes, though I'm not one to report based on rumours." Her smile seemed only genuine and Kaito decided to give her the benefit of a doubt. "Would you mind telling the readers a bit about how you and Kudo-san met then? You know, to clear up the misunderstandings in the papers."

Kaito wondered what those so-called papers were reporting, vowing to buy them all off the market just for the sake of it. He also wondered whether his detective knew about it. 'Maybe that's why he was up so early this morning…'

"Well, I met Shinichi during university," he lied through his teeth, "but we were merely colleagues at that point. You know, sharing a class every now and then, bumping into each other during lunch. One of my friend, I'm sure you know, is Hakuba and apparently Shinichi also knew of him at the time."

The reporter was busily scribbling on her little notebook but Kaito paid her no heed and continued.

"After a while, and a few outings later, we were friends."

"If you're only friends, then why share a house after graduation? A lot of the readers are really curious about your relationship with the detective, seeing as neither of you have anything in common."

"I wouldn't really say that. After all, we do have common friends now." He smiled briefly, "and one of them is actually a regular client of mine. You should have heard of the Suzuki Zaibatsu? Their youngest daughter, Suzuki Sonoko, regularly requests for my performances on behalf of their company for functions."

"Ah, yes. We had a report on one of their functions a few months ago. They invited many magicians to perform for a charity event."

"Yes, that's one of many." He nodded, hoping to steer the conversation away from his relationship with Shinichi. But it was in vain.

"And? You still haven't said how you and Kudo-san ended up sharing living space."

"Well…" He stopped for dramatics, "this whole thing started when I accidentally found Shinichi gravely ill on campus." That was a lie, when in fact it had to do with Kaito witnessing Shinichi transforming from Conan back to his true self after administering the antidote. It left him weak and barely able to stand. "And I helped him back home and took care of him."

"Why not bring him back to your own place?" The naturally curious reporter sat on the edge of her seats, possibly sensing a rather juicy piece of news.

"I live with my mum in an ordinary house. We don't actually have a guest room to accomodate for extra. Though at the time, it was more to do with proximity than anything else. He was on the verge of collapse and I thought a shorter trip to Beika from the university would be better than trekking all the way to Ekoda."

"Ah, so it was more practicality than anything." She nodded in understanding, scribbling more notes in the margins. "Then? What happened?"

"Well, I help take care of Shinichi for the week he was ill. But because of that I fell ill." Not really, just that after Shinichi was all better again, they launched the final takedown on The Organisation, during which Kaito suffered from a bullet wound as KID and was dragged to the Kudo house for medical attention where the little scientist threatened Kaito with needles. "Thankfully I was still staying here at the time and Shinichi was nice enough to repay the favour and let me stay until I was healthy again. We thought that since both of us were living on our own, it would only be logical to share a space were we can keep an eye on each other." He shrugged hoping it looked natural enough.

"And both of you just let it continue? What about a when you bring someone over? Wouldn't that be embarrassing?"

"With my schedule? I'd be lucky if I even have a night off." He joked. While it was true that his schedules are packed full of performances, he made certain to leave important dates and weekends free to spend with Shinichi.

The reporter continued on asking whether he had any plans in the future and Kaito was glad he could stray away from the topic of his love life. Though their conversation did not go very far as there was suddenly a knock on the door.

"Kaito?" Shinichi poked his head through, hand visibly covering the speaker of Kaito's mobile.

"What is it?" He smiled apologetically to the reporter as he stood up. The reporter quickly turned off the voice recorder, giving them the privacy needed.

"The TV station called your mobile and I picked it up thinking it might be an emergency change of plans since you were scheduled today. They said they wanted to move the recording of your part earlier because another guest couldn't make it." Shinichi pushed the phone in Kaito's direction, which he quickly took and bowed out of the room. Shinichi turned to the reporter and apologized. "Sorry about interrupting."

"No worries, we were just finishing up anyways." The reporter packed up her things and stood. "I should probably go as well. It looks like Kuroba-sensei is really busy. It was nice of him to make time for me." The small blush on her cheeks did not go unnoticed but Shinichi ignored it for the sake of keeping the nonchalant mask up. "Right, before I forget. Here's a little something. You know, because of the festivities and all…" She pushed a small wrapped box in Shinichi's direction before showing herself out of the house.

Shinichi looked at the neatly wrapped box. The generic red wrapper with the store logo all tied up with a white ribbon was indicative of what was inside.

"Ah, Shinichi!" Kaito bumped into Shinichi as he returned to the kitchen, box in tow. "I need to leave now for the studio." Kaito pushed pass to rush up the stairs, nearly slipping on the steps. Shinichi managed to stable Kaito in time to avoid any injuries.

"Why the rush?"

"I just agreed to do a short skit to help them fill up the time and I need to prep for a trick at the studio so I need to leave now." He rushed towards the shared bedroom, door automatically slamming shut with a loud bang to which Shinichi winced.

Shinichi looked at the clock, while it was technically still early, Shinichi knew Kaito would not have time to eat. He made a quick sandwich and wrapped it up, ready to be taken with the magician.

Moments later, Kaito reappeared in a well ironed suit.

"Well? Do I look ok?" It was customary for Kaito to seek Shinichi's approval before leaving the house.

"More than ok." Shinichi sauntered up and held Kaito loosely at the waist. He used the moment to slip the packed sandwich into a hidden pocket. Kaito merely gave Shinichi a questioning eyebrow. Without preamble, Shinichi dove in for a kiss on Kaito's lips.

Kaito barely held back the sudden yelp, mouth opening enough for his detective to take the opportunity and slip a tongue in. Kaito tasted sweetness and the familiar taste of chocolate. He could feel himself heating up and heartbeat racing the moment a solid lump of chocolate was passed into his mouth. When Shinichi pulled away, slightly out of breath, Kaito was tempted to go in for a second taste even as his hands trembled at the sudden attack from his detective.

"Go knock their socks off." Shinichi turned Kaito around and pushed him out the door before Kaito could say anything else.

During Kaito's journey, he felt overheated even in the cool weather. He could still feel the heated lips on his skin as the trembling in his hands had yet to subsided. Holding his hands into a tight ball, he willed them to stop trembling.

'Strange…' He thought as he stared at his long digits. 'I've never been one to be nervous about a performance…' He chalked his trembling to an otherwise normal reaction.

The studio was hot, too warm for Kaito's taste, with the heat from spotlights trained onto the stage. He went through his magic naturally, flowing from trick to trick, calling out his birds at times while bringing in both audience and the presenter for inclusiveness. When he bowed out with a thunderous round of applause, he felt extremely accomplished as he normally would at any other performance.

"Hey Kaito." The melodious voice greeted him as he stepped into the dressing room. Kaito was surprised to see Shinichi all dressed up and sitting cross-legged in front of the mirror.

"Shinichi!" Making sure the door was locked, Kaito leapt and pounce on his detective. It was not every day when Shinichi would make an appearance so abruptly.

"I take it you're glad to see me?" The playful tone of the voice had Kaito hug onto his detective even more. It was only a few hours ago when he last touched his detective and he already felt touch-starved.

Glancing over at his dressing table, he saw the open box of chocolate. A present from the studio for his attendance today. "You helped yourselves to my goodies?" Kaito had been eating them before the show for an extra burst of energy. He had been saving the sandwich that Shinichi packed for after the show. Though with his detective here, he was hopeful that they might be able to share lunch together.

"I was in the area. I couldn't get into the studio in the middle of recording."

Kaito nodded, "it was a live broadcast…" He would have loved for his detective to watch the show but TV producers tend to be a stickler for rules including no unauthorized personnel when recording was in session. "So? You have time for lunch or just to visit?"

"Sorry Kaito, I have a client meeting in half an hour. I just thought I could stop by and say high."

Kaito sighed. "There's no helping it then." It was regretful but Shinichi had chosen the path of being a detective consultant. And being as famous as he was, requests came to no end. "Well, I shouldn't keep you waiting." Kaito turned away, packing his props back into the small case he had brought with him.

Suddenly, hands on his shoulders forced Kaito to turn around. Startled, Kaito was about to ask for a reason when a pair of warm lips latched onto his. With his mouth still opened in half protest, the slippery tongue found a path into his mouth and explored wantonly his moist cavern. He could not help but let out a soft moan at the sensation. Then something solid slipped through, the bittersweet taste of chocolate once more making an appearance. Kaito could feel sweat gathering at his palms as the chocolate piece rolled between their tongues. He felt his own heartrate skyrocket to unknown heights and his skin heating up to the point of feeling like something was burning. When Shinichi finally let go (or perhaps it was Kaito who moved back for breath), they were both breathless as they stared at each other's eyes.

"Twice in a single day. I must be lucky." Kaito commented with a grin. It was not often for his detective to take the initiative and Kaito loved every time that he did. Though never with such frequency, which had Kaito wrecking his brain for the reason and occasion for such behaviour.

"Thought you needed a pick-me-up." Shinichi briefly glanced over at the box of chocolate, "and you did tempt me."

"Really now?" Kaito was not certain what set his detective off but he does like it. Although, he could do without the sudden itch of skin and the heart burn his detective was causing.

Someone's phone buzzed and Kaito tracked the sound to Shinichi's pockets. With an abashed look, Shinichi gave Kaito a final peck on the cheeks and rushed out the door. Kaito lifted a hand at the location, rubbing at it lightly, before shaking himself and continued with his packing.

Thankfully, whatever effects Shinichi had on Kaito had finally abated by late afternoon when he was doing some final tweaking of the props for the evening performance. The Suzukis have went all out and hired the largest hall available in the hotel. It was already a bit of work for Kaito just to walk from one end to another. For a brief moment, he considered rigging up a pulley system to help him glide across the hall, the ceiling was certainly tall enough for such a trick. But he discarded the thought as it removed him from his audience too much.

The afternoon show was a success, with Kaito receiving more requests from the guest in attendance. He was tired by the time he mingled with the Suzuki's invited guest but it he could not pass up a chance for networking.

"Hey Kaito." A familiar voice startled came from behind. "Great show."

"Shinichi!" Kaito jumped back, something that seems to be happening quite frequently today. As frequent as his detective's visits. "You were invited?"

"It's Sonoko. She wanted me here." Shinichi shrugged before turning around when a voice called him. He shook hands with an unrecognizable face, made a brief polite conversation before turning back to Kaito who had stood by throughout the exchange. "So you've finished with this event? Ready to head on out?"

"Are you volunteering to walk me there?" Kaito linked arms with Shinichi in an overly playful manner that had nearby guests giggling and jokingly wiggled their brows. Kaito was sure the action came across as him being eccentric rather than them actually in a relationship. "Or did you just want an escape?"

"You know me too well." Shinichi patted on Kaito's hand before releasing it. It was well known that they pair of them were good friends. But how 'good' they were is still unknown to the public. Not that Kaito would be announcing that bit any time soon. "I'll go find Sonoko and I'll tell her I'm kidnapping you. You go and pack up." He waved Kaito away as he stepped briskly towards a cluster of guest. Kaito watched for a second at the interaction, how Shinichi pointed towards Kaito (at which point he gave a small wave) before turning back to say something. There was a moment when Kaito thought he saw the young heiress teasing his detective, Kaito could see the tenseness of Shinichi's shoulders, and something was passed between them.

However, before he could dissect the scene any further, he remembered he was supposed to be packing up and quickly head backstage.

Shinichi met Kaito at the front entrance, hands tucked inside his pockets and he leaned against the wall. Shinichi looked more like a super model than a detective for the moment and he was tempted to take a picture of the scene.

"Have you waited for long?" Kaito announced himself, lifting his bag slightly higher on his shoulder. But Shinichi was quick to take the bag off Kaito's hold.

"I'll take that." He declared with an exaggerated groan at the weight of the bag. "Don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself."

"It's no big deal." Kaito shrugged, knowing better than to snatch the bag back.

Their journey to the theater for Kaito's final show of the day was short. A mere fifteen minute walk from the hotel. All the while, Kaito was admiring Shinichi in, hopefully, an inconspicuous manner as they conversed. Kaito was still trying to figure out the occasion but so far, his mind came up blank.

At the back entrance of the theater, Kaito was ready to say goodbye. He lifted a hand and opened the heavy metal doors before turning back to tell his detective to make sure to stop deducing tricks during the show. But his detective closed in and once again managed to stop Kaito before he could utter a single word.

"Mmph." At least this time, Kaito could make a sound in time with the attack. It was lucky that their location was well away from the public eye and cameras. Shaded by a rather large tree and dense shrubbery along with several large props, Kaito could feel playful hands moving across his back.

Same with all other times, Kaito felt the tongue played inside his mouth, smoothing over slippery skin and smooth teeth. And like the times before, Shinichi slipped another piece of chocolate into his mouth. Kaito wondered if this was Shinichi's attempt at feeding him something. Like before, Kaito felt himself heat up at the gesture, palms sweating, skin itching and burning, even his eyes seemed to burn and he forced himself to close them in favour of hearing the loud roaring beat of his own heart which was too rapid to be normal.

When they finally parted for air, Kaito suspects he looks a bit debauched and thoroughly mess up.

"I should really do something about stopping you…" He muttered, trying his best to straighten the jacket and flatten out the creases. His hands were shaking slightly and he could feel his breath uneven. He wondered what had caused such strange reactions in his body.

Shinichi did not look anywhere near guilty about his actions. Rather, there was a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Consider this as payback for all the times _you_ pounced on me."

"That was at the comfort of our own home!" Kaito defended himself. "I don't pounce on you when we're walking down the streets."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. We're not even walking." Shinichi took a step back, all smug looking and confident. "We're only standing around. And if you're about to accuse me of all my actions before, it was inside your dressing room and at home."

"Don't you get cheeky on me." Kaito poked at his detective's chest. The tips of his fingers felt tingly at the touch of the firm chest. He quickly turned away to enter the theater, hoping Shinichi did not see the small tremble. "I'm going. You better behave."

Shinichi's snicker accompanied him into the theater but Kaito remained resolute and walked away from the doors, remembering to lock it just in case his detective wanted to follow. It was somewhat disconcerting with the way Shinichi was acting and Kaito could swear his detective was up to no good.

Thankfully, the rehearsal went without further disruptions and sudden appearances of his detective. Kaito was able to run through all the tricks and lighting cues, check through all the props and the stage design. His staff was very efficient in what they were doing and within two hours, everything was ready for the audience.

Kaito sat inside his dressing room, staring at the mirror to try and figure out what was so special about today that had his detective acting weirdly. On the table was a box of chocolate, handed to him by his assistant. She had muttered something before shoving the box in Kaito's direction but he was too busy inside his own head and merely said thanks. At which point, the assistant looked extremely downcast before bouncing back with a rather fake smile and told him that it was ok. Kaito had no idea what she meant but let it be.

He let his finger trace lightly on the box surface, running over the red satin ribbon before trailing down to the end. Giving it a pull, the bow fell apart and Kaito decided to munch on the chocolate until the start of the show. The chocolate itself was not really bad, only it tasted flat and rather bitter. Though that could be because he liked the taste of chocolate that mingled with his detective's. At the thought, his face heated up and his heart rate skyrocketed once more.

"I swear he would be the death of me." Kaito muttered, popping another chocolate into his mouth just for the sake of having something to do.

The wait was not long until the show had to begin. According to the stagehands, the place was filled. Every seat in the house was taken. On the last minute, he asked his assistants to go to the nearest supermarket to buy several super packs of individually wrapped chocolates. He thought that, as a celebration for a well received show, he might gift back his audience with a sweet treat. His assistants quickly scrambled to the task, returning just moments before the show had to start. Kaito switched into his full black reconnaissance outfit and began to climb the rafters. From high above, he saw the audience piling in, looking for their seat. Kaito's eyes was quick to locate his detective, seated front and center.

Perhaps he had been staring too long at his detective for the neat head suddenly turned upwards. Blue eyes stared directly at Kaito and he gulped, hoping his detective would not ousted him. The still moment did not last though, Shinichi had to look away when a well-mannered couple sat down next to Shinichi. Kaito breathed out in relief and returned to his task.

Like all his shows, whether as a magician or _something else_ , Kaito started of with a rather enthusiastic announcement of "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my show!" before letting his doves out in a dramatic manner and appearing with a burst of smoke. The audience wowwed and awed at the spectacle, each pair of eyes glued to Kaito's movement and action. The finale came with a rain of glitter and chocolate, much to the delight of the audience. Some even quickly unwrapped the sweet and shared it with their partner. Kaito chanced a look at Shinichi who beamed back as he cradled the chocolate like it was fragile goods.

After a short encore skit, Kaito bowed out. He immediately headed over to the dressing room, knowing his detective would be there waiting for him. This time, at least, he prepared himself to be pounced upon.

"At least I know you haven't really forgotten." Shinichi declared at the moment Kaito entered the room. "For a moment, I had thought you had."

Kaito only raised his brows as a reply, not wanting his detective to know he actually have no idea what he was on about.

"Anyhow, we now have the rest of the evening to ourselves." Shinichi stalked over with a predatorial look on his face. He managed to box Kaito into the wall with his actions. "Well now, I should repay you for your little gift."

"Oh?" Kaito relaxed back into the wall. There was no harm in letting things run its course. Although, his reactions thus far is quite bothersome, what with the increase heart rate, the heated skin, the sudden tingling and numbing sensations the runs along his limbs. Kaito watched as Shinichi unwrapped the silver wrapper carefully and popping the chocolate into his mouth. The way his detective's lips and tongue moved should be illegal.

Knowing what was coming, Kaito was well prepared for his detective's press of lips onto his. The naughty tongue poked and prodded for entrance, which Kaito refused out of playfulness. Their game was brought to an end when Shinichi wrapped his arm around Kaito's waist, managed to sneak a hand underneath all his clothes and cause Kaito to gasp at the sudden contact. Kaito's skin was more than just heated, it was burning and flaming hot. He could feel goosebumps rising from where Shinichi's hand touched. The distraction was more than enough for Shinichi to share his piece of chocolate, gently lowering the melted goodness onto Kaito's tongue. The sweetness, mixed with the bitter taste of coffee and saltiness of whatever Shinichi had eaten beforehand, was addictive.

Kaito could not help but let out a regretful sound when lips suddenly pulled away. He knows his own lips were thoroughly swollen by the rough play. With his legs feeling like jelly and skin feeling much too numb, Kaito lurched forward into Shinichi's arms.

"You know, I think I'm developing an allergy." Kaito sprawled over his detective's chest. He managed to catch the look of worry in his detective's face and somehow, Kaito knew his detective was taking this the wrong way. "What I mean is that I'm showing all the signs of allergy. Sensitive skin, increase heart rate, numbness of limbs, short of breath, and with the swelling of lips, I can safely diagnose that this is all due to you feeding me chocolate."

The worry inside the blue eyes turned into a twinkle of playfulness. "Then it means I should stop feeding you chocolate?"

"Of course not. Even though I'm developing an allergy, at the same time, I'm developing an addiction." This time, it was Kaito who leaned towards his detective's lips. He pressed firmly without waiting for a reply. "Now you'll just have to cure me."


	15. Request: White Knight

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Before you read, I can tell you that this is half a story. Or at least this is the story from Kaito's point of view. I do have a rather...explicit version of this tucked up and read to be released...most likely on AO3 given I can actually tag warnings on it and whatnot. Because of this chapter, I've moved up the ratings a bit.

The following is a request from Guest: "Failed r*** attempt on Shinichi, Kaito comes to the rescue and scoops him away from danger"

* * *

 **15 Guest Request: White Knight**

 _When the protagonist is in distress, a knight will always come to the rescue_

It was not often that Kaito, or KID as he was in his uniform, felt something was off. His heist had been without a hitch, the jewel now securely tucked away in his pockets. He had his customary chat with his favourite detective, now back in full size and still looking as adorable as he was in his shrunk form, and managed to leave the scene without a football imprint on his back or being shot by a dart. Overall, he considered this a good heist.

Only something kept nagging at him for the moment.

Landing on the nearest rooftop, well away from both the heist location and his closest safehouse, KID decided to take a stock check. He took an inventory of his props, just to make sure he did not leave anything incriminating behind (that one time when he dropped his student card inside the bathroom when changing his outfit was really embarrassing. Thankfully, the heist location was inside a public museum as opposed to those private collections that KID targets nowadays, and the security guard that found his student card did not give any thought to how or why it ended up there despite the cleaners having cleaned up and left hours ago). He also checked for his doves.

"Tama-chan?" He called out when the headcount revealed one short. That particular bird had a tendency to follow his favourite detective home during heist nights.

The rest of the birds cooed, as thought trying to tell him that said Tama-chan had left. Something just does not sit right with KID and he opted to pull out his phone. He had, some time ago, placed tracking devices on all his doves, like a responsible pet owner should. Though he trusted his birds to return to him within a day, his uneasiness urged him to find Tama-chan immediately.

It was strange to see the bright dot on the map appearing far away from the Beika district. His eyes tracked the slow moving dot until it stood still at a location quite some distance away.

"Why are you there…" KID asked, tapping his feet impatiently and hoping that it was merely his detective called away for investigation rather than something else. But the dot, Tama-chan, did not stay stationary for long. It curved towards the back of the building, as though looking for a route or a window. She continued to circle the building in a rather erratic manner. To KID, it looked as though his bird was in distress.

Not wanting to waste another moment, KID dove off the current rooftop and angled his glider towards his bird's location.

The district was purely residential, complete with low lying housing, silent streets, and an eerie park with a rather rusty swing that squeaked underneath the blowing wind.

"This is just wrong." He muttered as he pulled out his phone to check for location. Tama-chan should be somewhere closeby.

KID kept his eyes trained for a small white bird sitting on a windowsill, possibly somewhat hidden in the shadows. He did not expect to see Tama-chan waiting for him on a red rooftop, looking rather flustered and distressed.

"Tama-chan." He called out, landing softly on the tiled roof. They were on top of a garage instead of the house proper. "What's wrong."

Tama-chan flew up to shoulder level and began pulling at his collar frantically, trying to drag him towards a nearby window.

"Calm down." He attempted to cup the bird into his palm, only for her to fly off towards the window. "What's inside?" He carefully eased the window open, thankful that it was unlocked (not that it would stop KID anyhow), and sneaked inside. He was careful of his footsteps and paid extra attention to possible alarms and security measures. For his bird to act so frantic, something bad must have happened and he feared for the detective's life.

Tama-chan led Kaito across to a staircase and sat at the post on the lowest step. KID took hint and walked downwards, only for Tama-chan to fly off once he reached the last step. She then quickly did a u-turn, towards a doorway partially hidden by the shadows that KID assumed to lead towards the garage.

Carefully, KID edged the doorway open. He peered through the small opening he created and was more than appalled by the sight. Strapped onto a metallic table was the detective. From what he could see, the detective's clothes were not only in disarray but more like shredded. Restraints pulled against the detective's limbs, forcing them apart and securing them in a manner that was more than uncomfortable. KID could barely make out his detective's face, though he did see a crude gag made from silver duct tape. He took a shaky breath, sent out an emergency signal to Jii to bring the vehicle over to his location, before making a dramatic entry.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He aimed the card gun at the man looming over the detective. He felt livid at the undressed state of the man, wanting nothing more than sever some choice parts of the man's body. "Hands off and step away from Meitantei this minute!"

"Can't you see you're interrupting? Or perhaps you'd like to join me?" The man taunted, stepping closer between the detective and KID. His body had managed to block KID's line-of-sight to the detective effectively.

"Not a chance." KID fired several shots, two aimed at the ground just centimeters in front of the man, two more passing by the side of the man's face at an eerily close distance and had embedded itself onto the far wall, another final one managed to hit something made of glass and smashed it to bits. "I'll only ask you nicely once more. Step away from Meitantei and I'll make sure you won't be badly hurt."

The man laugh cruelly, as though he knew of some dark secret, "You're a thief that have, time and again, declared himself to do no harm towards others. You're not the type to shoot first."

"Like you said, I'm a thief." KID stepped away from the doorway and slowly approached the man and the retrained detective. The man seemed to flinch ever so slightly as a reaction to KID's stalking. Knowing that he had the man cornered, KID let himself smirk triumphantly. "Thieves lie." A quick aim at the man, KID fired his gun. This time, the card cut off strands of hair and drew a small line of blood on from the top of the man's ear.

"You won't hurt me. After all, Kudo Shinichi's in my possession." The man was quick to move, slipping away and managing to hold the detective up as a human shield. KID let his gun trail along with the man's movements only to stutter when the barrel faced the rather limp detective. KID would have swore out loud but instead allowed himself a whispery hiss.

Tension built between the pair, neither willing to back down. Though it seemed the detective had other ideas as he tries to struggle within his captor's grip. KID saw the opportunity when the detective managed to angle his head to the side just enough for KID to take a shot. KID made certain his gun was loaded with the right ammo, after all he did not wish to harm the detective. With the press of the trigger, KID let loose the specially made ammo fly through the air. The moment it impacted the man, it split apart to release the gas held inside. Light smoke filled the immediate area and the man hissed out something resembling a curse before falling back and hitting the ground with a thud.

After the smoke had cleared, KID walked closer to the detective, who laid limply on the metallic bench. KID allowed himself to rest his hand on the detective's cheeks, causing a startled response from bright blue eyes that flew open. Fear reflected within the blue orbs.

His gloved hand remained stationary for a short while before moving down to locate the ends of the duct tape. "I'm not going to hurt you." It was difficult to find the rough edges but the fabric of the glove finally caught onto the end. "It's going to sting a little." KID waited for the go-ahead signal from the detective. There was a hesitant nod.

With quick motions, KID tries to remove the tape as pain free as he could. But the damage was done and the pale skin showed up bright red because of his actions. The detective quickly spat out a bunch of wet cloth that had been lodged inside his mouth and KID winced when it made a wet 'splat' sound on the ground.

Walking over, KID braced the detective into a sitting position and produced a bottle of water. "Here. I'll help you drink a little before I release the bonds on your ankle." The detective looked questioningly for a while before tipping his head back to signal KID to give him a drink. The detective took large gulps of water, KID patiently and carefully tipped the bottle until half consumed, at which point, the detective moved his head again to signal that he had enough.

It worried KID that the detective had yet to speak but he knew it was merely a temporary thing rather than any sort of psychological damage (or heaven forbid, an effect of being drugged).

"I'll just get to the ankle bonds. Don't freak out ok?" He made certain to announce all his actions, lest the detective react badly with his actions.

He took his time to walk to the end of the bench, standing still for a moment to let the detective see where he was. Though with the head resting back on the bench, KID doubted the detective could see much of him. Instead, he placed a gloved hand just above the restraints. He could feel the muscles tense underneath his touch.

"Meitantei?" He asked, immediately taking his hand off the skin.

"It's nothing." The voice that came back sounded broken and soft. It pained KID to hear the detective sounding weak.

"Are you sure?" KID took a quick look around to see if there was anything he could use to prop the detective up. He walked back within the detective's field of vision. "Perhaps I should sit you up for this, so you can see what I'm doing." He looked around the room, wanting to see what was available for him to do such a task. Hopefully, with the detective being able to see what was going on, it could ease the tension.

"Don't bother. Do what you must." The detective's eyes burned with hardness and KID could only sigh at his stubbornness. He walked back the way he came and positioned himself at the end of the bench once more. The crude restraints were no match for KID's skill and with a few pick of the lock, the restraint came free and fell down with a resounding thud. He quickly made work of the other ankle and within moments, the detective was finally free.

"Do you think you can stand?" KID looked at the detective, internally debating whether he needed to carry him out. While it would not be bothersome for KID, he really did not know how the detective would react to his touch.

"I don't think I can move, or even feel anything…" The detective admitted after several silent moments.

It was as KID had feared, that the detective had been drugged and the effects were still present. He had hoped that, with the amount of times the detective had succumbed to chemicals, he would have developed some form of resistance (KID certainly has resistance to most from of sleeping agents at least because of all his experimentation with chemical mixes).

"Alright...I can bring you to safety but only if you trust me. Only if you'll let me touch you." KID looked directly into the bright blue orbs, still clouded with fear and anxiety. The detective returned with a nod instead of verbal reply, signifying how uncomfortable he was with the situation. KID noticed how the detective would flinch when his eyes travelled beyond his face as he was trying to figure out the logistics of carrying the detective. Remembering the detective's current state, KID took off his cape and draped it over the detective.

"I don't have a spare change of clothing with me at the moment. You'll have to make do with the rough fabric from my cape." He carefully wrapped the detective in the white cape, trying not to notice the strange dry white patch on the detective's stomach.

With the detective secured, KID picked him up bridal style and proceeded to head out towards the front entrance. He wanted to first make sure the detective was safe before calling in the police to investigate.

As he walked out of the dark room, he felt the breath against his neck even out to something soft and slow. KID knew the detective must have fallen unconscious. While it should be something worrisome, KID was only relieved that the detective found him safe enough to succumb to unconsciousness. KID relaxed at the sight of the old car parked in front of the house with a worried Jii standing by the doors.

A quick word was exchanged with Jii as KID instructed for the elderly to contact the police while he went back to tie up the culprit. The detective rested at the back seat of the car, still wrapped up in KID's cape, and while Jii looked on with an extreme case of worry, he did dial the number for the police.

KID's concoction of sleeping agent should knock out the culprit for an hour or two, but he would not take any risk. Using the same restraints he unlocked the detective out of, KID tied up the would-be rapist and made sure he had no further means of escape. He left a calling card next to the still unconscious culprit, a message to tell the police to contact the detective in the morning for more details. However, KID did want to spare the detective from having to recall the night's event so he left a rather detail description of what he saw and a word-for-word transcription of his dialogue with the tied man. He hoped it would be enough.

The drive to the Kudo house was a short one. KID had the detective placed back in his own bed, covered in the warm blankets. However, he felt he could not leave just yet and instead stood vigil over the detective for the night. There were times when the detective would shiver, even though he was covered in the blankets, and other times when he would let out small whimpers. At these times, KID would reach out and slowly brush away the creasing brows in hopes of soothing away the nightmare. He would mutter out calming words, telling the detective that he was here to guard his dreams.

When the sun began to rise, KID knew he had to go despite his worry. Before leaving, he placed a pure white rose on the bedside table with a message card underneath. KID gently brushed aside the stray strands of hair on the detective, and as though trying to pour all his wishes and hopes into the single action, KID lean downwards and placed a gentle kiss on the detective's brows.

"Sleep well. I'll see you soon." KID muttered before walking out of the room. Jii had been waiting for long enough and it was a good time to leave.


	16. Cars

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: It's been so long since my last post...Oh, and I am still taking requests, though it might take a bit of time between the request and post.

* * *

 **16 Cars**

 _Whenever there is need for an escape vehicle, they are always unlocked, with a full tank, and somehow with either the keys in the ignition or up on the visor. The car also comes with a handy weapon in the glove compartment._

Shinichi dashed between the tree trunks, through the thin shadows, and running straight for a place with a larger surface area to hide. It was rather stupid of him to volunteer as bait to draw away the shooters and have Kaito find a means of escape. He moaned at the fact that they have once again stumble onto something, though Shinichi have to admit that curiosity played a part in today's discovery. Even the magician's luck could only go so far to prevent crimes. Thankfully, their outing was not disturbed by a corpse but by armed robbery.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing though..." Shinichi muttered to himself, arms quickly raising to cover his head from the shower of wood chips. "How many guns do they have?!" The staccato from fired bullets never seemed to have slowed ever since Shinichi and Kaito stumbled into the criminal's paths during their escape. The criminals chased them, only because Shinichi saw their faces and made the connection between the black balaclavas in their hands, the bulge on beneath the heavy sweaters, and the rather rugged looking travel bag that hung on each of their shoulders. The criminals, upon noticing the twin pairs of blue and indigo, quickly gave chase.

Unfortunately, the criminals managed to lure them to a half complete construction site. There were sparse vegetation in the area, with several short shrubs lining some of the paths and several thin trees that looked like the slightest wind would blow them over. Most of the landscaping had not yet taken root, though he did manage to find an area that was more established, an area that is partially hidden by the half completed building.

"STOP HIDING!" The gruff voiced called out. "COME OUT HERE RIGHT NOW AND I PROMISE TO AT LEAST LET ONE OF YOU GO."

"Yea, as if we'll fall for that." Shinichi crawled underneath a bush, trying to make the least noise as possible. He paused to check his bearings every now and then, taking an extra moment to peer between the branches and check the criminal's locations.

On the other side of the compound, Kaito flitted about the shadows. He inched slowly out towards the parking lot, weary of potential snipers in his paths (not that he would expect any from several two-bit criminals but it never hurt to be safe). Kaito dove for the shadow of the nearest vehicle, which happened to be a generic Toyota Corolla in a dusty grey colour. Immediately, he had four picks from his lock-pick kit, ready to be inserted into the keyhole. Though first, he tried the handle just in case.

The handle gave way, allowing Kaito to full the door open with ease.

"Lucky!" He smirked. Kaito looked at the dashboard, noting the full fuel tank, and whistled. "That's a lifesaver."

His next task was to pick up Shinichi who was still playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. Kaito did not want to waste too much time here and was more than prepared to hotwire the car. But he remember some of Shinichi's words, how people tend to, for convenience sake, keep the keys inside the car (Kaito could not be sure why people think that was a smart move but whatever). Trying his luck again, Kaito reached up to bring down the visor. True enough, a silver key gleaned from its secure (?) position, as though winking at Kaito and telling him to take it.

"Well, I'm not one to look at a gift horse's mouth." He plucked the key and insert it into the ignition. The car hummed to life with its low whirring noise. He shifted from Park and stepped on the gas towards the location he last remembered seeing Shinichi. He made a rather dangerous u-turn, nearly clipping one of the scrawny trees, then swerved on a corner and headed towards the sound of gunfire.

Hiding just on the edge, and still keeping a rather close eye on everything around him, Shinichi breathed with relief as he saw the grey car cutting the corner a bit too tight. He winced as he heard the tires screeched in pain. "Kaito, I really should teach you to drive properly. Your skills are severely lacking…" He grumbled, head still hidden in the bushes. He might drive like his mother (that is his driving is more like stunt driving than actual transportation) but his skills actually saved them during car chases (or helped them in car chases depending on occasion) many times over.

The car was quick to pull close to the bushes, the door opening without Shinichi having to reach for it from his hiding space. Inside, Kaito sat low to avoid becoming an easy target.

"Quickly!" He urged, his hands were tight around the steering wheel as indigo eyes glanced feverently around. It managed to pinpoint the shooter in the corner and Kaito sank lower in his seat.

Not wanting to become Swiss cheese, Shinichi did not hesitate to jump out of the bushes, pulling the door shut as soon as he went inside. Without waiting for Shinichi to put on his seatbelt, Kaito turned the wheel in the direction of the exit not too far ahead.

Unfortunately, it seems like luck was not on their side today as the shooters quickly caught up to their car.

"Oh Come on Lady Luck!" Kaito could not help but complain at the new turn of events which included a shooter leaning precariously out of the car window and began taking aim at them.

"Do you have your card gun today?" Shinichi asked. He knew the magician was always prepared so he must have something useful.

"How was I supposed to know it would come in handy today? I left it at home because I wanted to travel light."

Shinichi suddenly had the urge to bang his head on the plastic dashboard but he managed to tone it down to a mere groan.

"Anything projectile like then? I doubt you want me to jump over to their car to take them down." There was a speculative twinkle in Shinichi's eyes, one that spells injuries and trouble.

"I think once is more than enough for you to jump out of one vehicle and into another mode of transport." Kaito suddenly had flashbacks of the time he had to jump out of an airship, and most recently the time he jumped out of a train. "You do know transports are made for riding right?"

"Tell it to the people chasing us." Shinichi was too distracted in his search around the glove compartment to pay much attention to Kaito's next words. However, he did have luck as he drew out a gun from the depths of the compartment with a triumphant "A-ha!"

"Yay..." Kaito sounded less than enthusiastic, "then are you going to shoot them? I thought you were always the one to save lives not end them, which the gun would most likely do should you shoot them as we're cruising down an unused road at breakneck speed."

"Just keep still as I take aim and fire. Afterwards, I'll take over the wheel." Shinichi leaned out of the window without a thought to the dangers it may pose. Kaito managed, at the very last moment, to spare a hand and pull on Shinichi's waistband, acting like a safety line. Shinichi glanced down at the hand, eyes raising just a fraction at the strange hold. "You're not _attempting_ anything are you?" His jeans were hanging slightly lower than usual, evidence of the hard grip from the magician.

"What? NO!" Kaito took his eyes off the road for a split second, giving Shinichi a rather incredulous look. The car swerved but Kaito quickly regained control. "Not now at least. Later though…" The suggestive tone said pretty much everything Shinichi needed to hear.

Instead of replying with anger or annoyance (or any sort of verbal reply actually), Shinichi briefly ducked back in through the window and lean over to the driver's seat. Just as Kaito was about to ask what was wrong, Shinichi captured the moment and swallowed all his words. Tongues were briefly involved seeing as Shinichi could not pass up the chance of an open (and somewhat willing) mouth. When he pulled away, he saw how Kaito's eyes had a slight haze over the indigo orbs, with the slightest bit of slickness coating the lips, fully open in half pant.

"Get us out of here and I might just be nice enough to finish off what I've started." Shinichi thought that should be motivation enough for Kaito to carry out a quick escape instead of dragging it on like he normally because he wanted the adrenaline rush.


	17. Request: Death and Rebirth (?)

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: This one was kind of...hard I guess? Because I didn't know when to end it. Anyways, seeing as the request wanted emotional pain, I've decided to cut it at the most painful part of the story. And seeing as I need to keep this series of fic more 'family friendly' (I did rate it under M even though the most graphic it gets is a few kisses here and there), but I feel some of the themes this story isn't really family friendly, hence head to my AO3 (search 'PhantomShyraz' for author). Also also, Shinichi's POV for 'White Knight' chapter is up, do check it out.

The following is a request from zzzjem: "I see lots of Shinichi dying and Kaito being the one left to clean up everything about b.o, mourn for shinichi and grieve. How about this time, Kaito dies in Shinichi's arms? How Shinichi would react to grief depends on you. Bonus points for more pain if they're in an established relationship and shinichi doesn't become kid"

Warning: DEATH!

* * *

 **17 zzzjem Request: Death and Rebirth (?)**

 _Heroes never die (?)._

Shinichi could not believe it was happening, especially so when everything seems to have run so smoothly at the heist. KID came, landed on top of the display case with flourish, the Task Force reacted with their usual antics of pile-on-the-bandit routine with Inspector Nakamori shouting and swearing up a storm in the background. After KID had evaded each and every officer, secured them with a network of ribbons, all that was left was KID lifting the gem out of the case, without even opening the case, and Shinichi chasing KID up the stairs and out into the rooftop. KID went through the customary lift-the-gem-towards-the-moonlight gesture and that was where everything turned downhill.

The gem in his hands suddenly emitted a soft white glow, sparkling and ethereal underneath the moonlight. The visible indigo eye widened at the sight accompanied by a slackening of the mouth, forming into a perfect 'o'. Shinichi watched as KID's gaze was enraptured by the gem, his focus, too, was on the thief and the gem. Which may be why he never picked up on the sudden tense atmosphere.

There was a whistling in the air, a soft whistling of something travelling at a very high speeds, before a soft thud. KID then crumbled onto the rooftop, lying still and facing up into the moonlight. The gem, still glowing, rested on a growing patch of redness, staining both the stone and the white suit.

"KID!" Shinichi rushed over as the white glove hand grip onto the gem and the wound on his chest. Right pectorals if Shinichi had to be exact, but the wound was definitely more close to the center than to the shoulders. Shinichi helped put pressure on the wound, not caring at how the gem seems to be digging into his own skin, nor cared about it staining his sleeves. "KID, stay with me."

"I think I did it…" KID's voice came in soft whispers, eyes focused onto Shinichi's face as he tries to staunch the flow. It might be his imagination but Shinichi would like to think that the blood might be slower than before with his added help. "Shinichi, I think I did it."

"Of course you did." Shinichi answered, knowing tears were slowly beginning to form on the rim of his eyes. "You're the Phantom Thief KID. Everything you set out to do, you succeed."

"Not only that…" The voice was barely above whispers now, it took all of Shinichi's concentration to take in the next few words. "I think I found it as well." The smile, that satisfied smile, was painful for Shinichi to look at. He would rather see that annoying grin or the confident smirk instead of whatever was showing on the thief's face.

"But you haven't confirmed it yet…" A single drop of tear fell from Shinichi's eyes, blurring the blood stain on his hand. "You haven't confirmed it…" He hoped that by giving KID a seemingly unfinished business, the thief would hold on until Shinichi could figure something out.

"But it glowed. It glowed white, and I'm sure it'll turn red as well." A white glove hand, the one that had been resting on the roof instead of gripping the gem, reached out to caress Shinichi's cheeks. "Can you promise me? To make sure this stays safe?"

"It's something you're supposed to do! Remember? You're...KID is supposed to keep _this_ safe from the hands of other criminals." Shinichi held up the hand with the gem, momentarily forgetting the wound. The glow was still visible even as it was coated by his blood. The pinkish light made the gem look more sinister than the ethereal diamond it was supposed to be. "You once told me a Phantom Thief's job is to protect precious items. Isn't this supposed to be a precious item? Aren't you more suited to do this than I?"

Shinichi begged with pleading eyes as the indigo pupils were slowly hidden by heavy eyelids. "KI-Kaito, please. Stay with me here." Shinichi held the hand, the bloodied gloved hand, to his chest. His head bowed as tears flowed unrestrained down his cheeks and cascade over their joint hand with the jewel held between them. "Kaito, please, open your eyes."

"Shinichi." KID's, no Kaito's, breath came in pants. Shinichi could see he was having difficult trying to string together the syllables. "Tell mum I'm sorry?"

"No! You tell her yourself!" Shinichi held onto the hand tighter, as though his physical connection can help anchor Kaito into his reality.

"I'm sorry Shinichi…" The sad smile on his face was tearing Shinichi apart. Indigo eyes were becoming more unfocused as it stare pass Shinichi's face. His gaze, it seems, was fixated on the moon hung above him. "I wanted to protect it, protect you, and everyone." With a final huff, his eyes closed. Kaito's chest barely rose and it looked as though he was not breathing. Shinichi noted how the blood stopped pooling beneath him, stopping just millimeters beyond where Shinichi knelt.

"Kaito." The hand in Shinichi's grasp slacked and he unknowingly released it as he dove in to shake Kaito's shoulder. "Oi, don't...don't close your eyes." Shinichi, as though suddenly coming back to his senses, jolted and patted on Kaito's suit. "Where is it? Where is it?" He frantically asked as he shoved his hand into the various pockets, starting with all the hidden ones.

It was on the outside pocket of the white jacket where Shinichi found the small transmitter. He hastily pressed down on the singular button. It would send a distress signal to Jii, who should be nearby, notifying him of the location. Kaito had told him about this transmitter just that evening and neither had thought they needed it. But here he was, holding tight onto the inconspicuously small device as though it was a lifeline.

Minutes must have passed, even though it seemed like hours, and Shinichi finally heard the sound of rushed footsteps. Coming with Jii was the Professor, who apparently was a good friend and the supplier of many KID gadgets, and Haibara tagging alongside. One look on his face had the young scientist running towards him.

"Kudo-kun." She waved a hand in front of Shinichi, who barely registered.

"Haibara." He replied with a lag. Jii was quickly on his knees, assessing the wound and damage.

"Look at me Kudo-kun. Focus on me for now." Haibara took Shinichi's face into her small hands. "Stay in the moment for now. Don't freak out on us." She repeated in a calming tone. It helped bring Shinichi back somewhat from his internal panic.

Even though they planned for this type of eventuality, that they planned for when KID was seriously wounded. They never took into account KID possibly being mortally wounded to the point where he could not make an escape and finish his performance. With the Task Force still downstairs, they have limited time to come up with a solution.

"We...we need to get him help." Shinichi managed to say. "Medical attention. Gunshot wound to the...to the…"

"We know Kudo-kun. What we need now is KID to escape." Haibara prompted. "I have an idea but you need to carry it through for him." She shoved a large bag in his direction. "Release the dummy while the Professor and Jii-san take care of KID. Then return to the hall, release the Task Force and tell them KID has escaped. We'll take KID back to the manor."

"But Kaito, he needs...hospital...and surgery...the wound..."

"Trust us, we can help KID. You need to do your part." By then, both the professor and Jii had already bundled Kaito in a dark cape. It looked too much like a body bag and Shinichi had to avert his eyes to rid himself of the image of KID being carried out like many of the corpse he has seen.

"Remember, dummy then change then Task Force. It would not do for them to know you've had contact with KID and that there were gunshots fired." Haibara forced Shinichi to stand up. "The less police involvement there are, the safer for everyone as we don't know who the shooters are just yet." He carried out the tasks in a daze, returning to the hall and gave a monotone report to the inspector before heading back home.

The Kudo Manor looked surprisingly cold and daunting underneath the full moon's light. The area was extremely silent even though Shinichi knew there were people inside, rushing about. He quietly approached the front door, not bothering to call out the customary 'tadaima' as he took off his shoes. He saw four other pairs of shoes by the foyer, a small children's pair of shoes, two pairs of men's shoes, and a pair of low heels. Shinichi could hear faint rustling sounds from an upstairs bedroom. He moved towards the source of the sound.

Sitting outside on a wooden chair was a distressed Phantom Lady dressed casually in clothes hastily thrown together from the closet.

"Chikage-san." Shinichi approached, trying to ease her death grip on the water glass. "Kaito, he's…"

"Jii and Agasa is with them. Ai-chan as well. But...I saw…"

It was not easy for a mother to see her child severely injured and limp in another's arms. It was even worse when she saw the once-pristine suit stained in red being cut away. She had thought the momento from her late-husband could keep their son safe even as he pursued his own brand of justice.

"I'm sorry." Shinichi apologised without knowing why he should. He bowed low with his eyes closed. "I was there and I couldn't-"

"Shinichi-kun, it's not your fault." Chikage comforted, wrapping his arm around the forlorn teen. "Both of you were distracted." She says as though she had been there in person, that she saw how they reacted when the gem glowed.

"Where is it?" Shinichi could not help but ask, not seeing the gem anywhere.

"Where is what?" Chikage looked concerned, following Shinichi's line of sight towards the various surfaces in their vision.

"The night's target. It was in his hands the whole time." Shinichi stood, concerned that it might have been lost during transportation.

"It could be inside..." She motioned before standing up and rushing into the room after him.

The two older males looked up as they heard the door open, only Haibara was focused on the pale magician on the guest bed. Shinichi ignored their questioning gaze and went to the pile of white material discarded to the side. But there was no need to search through it as Shinichi managed to catch a glimpse of light emitting from between Kaito's fingers.

Carefully he approached the too-still Kaito with cautious steps, baring in mind not to disrupt the surgery that Haibara was conducting. She was bent over the gunshot wound, held open with metal retractors, as she focused all her attention to the bullet extraction. Her blue gloved hands were barely shaking even as she closed the tweezers around the bullet.

Shinichi stood still, as though frozen on the spot, as he watched how Haibara was trying to carefully remove the foreign object from the flesh. To the side, the professor was stationed at a cardiogram, closely monitoring the vitality. Jii was given the task of monitoring oxygen levels and sedatives. Shinichi had to wonder why there was the need for sedatives when Kaito was already unconscious.

"If you're just going to stand there," Haibara's cool voice sounded too loud even as it was muffled by the face mask, "then you should go sit outside. We don't need you to bring in further contaminants."

"Shinichi-kun." Chikage tugged at his hand, "come with me."

"Kaito." Shinichi dug his feet into the floor, not wanting to budge an inch. He slowly, carefully, walked over towards Kaito, on the opposite side of the bed where Haibara was operating from.

"Kudo-kun." She warned, eyes finally taking their focus from the wound. The magnifying headpiece made here eyes look comedically innocent even with the blood splatters on her clothes.

"I...I need to be here." He took hold of the hand with the gem. "I have to be here." He enforced, eyes with a steely gleam.

The skin of Kaito's hands were too cold in Shinichi's opinion and he merely tightened his own hands as though trying to share his warmth. In between the crevice of their fingers, he could just make out the small amount of light from the gem, a tainted glow in Shinichi's opinion. He thought he felt warmth emitting from the gem for a second but he decided it must be his imagination.

She sighed and returned to her work.

The bullet came out with a small splurge of blood and Haibara hastily reached over to the silver dish for a clamp. The bullet was dropped into another dish with a resounding clang before she reached for the suturing kit, helpfully handed over to her by Chikage who also remained in the room. The next hour was tense as there seems to be complications in closing up the wound. But Shinichi sat through it all, eyes never once left Kaito's face.

Shinichi never knew when day turned to night as he sat there with his hands enclosing Kaito's. He knew, at some point, Haibara had asked him to sit Kaito up so she can bandage the wound, a task that Chikage quickly took over stating that she has better reach and would therefore make the task easier. He thought he heard someone telling him that all they have to do now is wait for Kaito to wake up but Shinichi could not remember his response.

He sat there through the hours, strangely sensitive to the coldness of the skin. There was a slow soft beep in the background telling him that Kaito was apparently still alive. But each beep seemed to be further and further in between as Shinichi's consciousness drifted between the feel of coldness and the stillness of Kaito's face. The pump by his side was loud in his ears, signalling that Kaito as breathing even though it was likely forced by the machine. But Shinichi was too focused on the feeling underneath his hands, the cold clammy feeling of the skin.

"Shinichi-kun." Chikage approached Shinichi, giving him a tap on his shoulders. "Please get some sleep."

Shinichi shook his head, holding tighter onto the hand. Something fell off his shoulders, he guessed it was a blanket someone helpfully covered him with. He shuddered lightly at the sudden change of temperature.

"You've been in this position for two days. We're all very worried about you."

Still, Shinichi shook his head. He did not want to leave, did not want to let go. He feared that if he had, Kaito would not have an anchor and would never come back to his side. The beeping sound he remembered hearing was gone, same with the wheezing of the pump. There were no other outward signs to tell Shinichi whether Kaito was still here with him but he believed his presence here would remind Kaito that there is someone here waiting. He tightened his grip on the cold flesh in response, the added pressure a message for his magician to return.

"You need to sleep, rest, eat. You need to keep living." Chikage's hands came into view, forcefully removing his fingers from Kaito's hands.

"No." His own voice came in a crackling sound. "Please, let me stay."

"It's not healthy." She sighed, taking a seat on the empty space of the bed. She took hold of Shinichi's face, turning it so they were looking at each other's eyes. "You need to rest."

"Let me stay here. I'll…"

"You leave me no choice." She took out a can, which he recognised as an aerosol can carried by KID. A spray of pink came out before Shinichi could hold his breath and he felt his own grip slipping from Kaito's. Shinichi valiantly tries to hold on but he felt how each of his muscle groups relaxed. Before his eyes closed, he saw the look of regret on Chikage's face as he slumped over to lie on top of Kaito's rather still chest.

Shinichi woke in what seems like an eternity later. He was tucked in the bed he shares with Kaito. He groggily turned over towards the side Kaito had favoured only to find it to be freezing cold. His memory soon came rushing forward, a memory of blood and coldness, and he bolted up. Nearly tripping over his blanket, he rushed out of the room and into the guest room only to find it empty. During his sleep, everything had been cleared away including Kaito who should have been resting on the bed. Shinichi ran through the corridor, opening each and every door he came across in the hopes of finding some sign that maybe Kaito had woken up and was wondering about inside the house. But only silence greeted him at each and every turn.

Panicking, Shinichi ran downstairs and out the front door. His bare feel not feeling the harsh concrete surface beneath as he ran over next door and banged loud enough to be heard all the way down the street.

"Kudo-kun?" Haibara answered the door.

"Where is he?" Shinichi demanded, pushing his way through the threshold. He ignored the call from Haibara to slow down and ask why he came over dressed as he was. "Where's Kaito?"

She paused for a moment before shaking her head, "I'm sorry." She replied with a hint of regret.

Shinichi slumped down, his back leaning heavily on the closed door as he slide further down into the ground. There were only so many ways that the phrase could be interpreted and with how things went, his mind came up with the worst case scenario.

"Chikage-san and Jii-san took him. Saying you probably shouldn't have to witness it." Shinichi saw a pair of legs coming over in his direction. He felt a comforting hand placed on his shoulders, giving it a squeeze. "They were trying to spare you of the pain and mental anguish."

"No." He begged with his eyes, looking up at the rather solemn face. "Tell me that's a lie."

"It's the truth Kudo-kun. They took him away in secret."

"At least, tell me where they...where they buri-" His voice cracked and refused to complete the word. It was as though by saying it, everything would become real.

Haibara merely shook her head. "They didn't tell us."

Haibara took pity on him and led him towards the sofa. The professor came baring a cup of tea, which Shinichi barely registered as it was forced into his hands. He turned to look between the pair standing before him, eyes trying to pick out the barest hint of a lie. His eyes skimmed over the various signs of fatigue, of concern, of pain and worry. Out on the corner of his eye, he saw a glint of keys and he quickly dove over to grab it.

"Shinichi-kun!" "Kudo-kun!" The pair shouted, both hand reaching out to stop Shinichi. But he was just that slightly bit faster as he took the car keys and headed towards where the Yellow Beetle was parked. The car looked as though it has seen better days, there were signs of disuse but Shinichi ignored them as he wrenched open the driver-side doors and slip into the seat.

The drive came in a blur and soon he was in front of the Kuroba house in Ekoda. It felt empty, as though no one has been in there for a long time. The gates creaked as it opened into the front gardens with plants that looked slightly underfed and it alarmed Shinichi. Standing on the porch, he realised how quiet everything was. He knocked on the door only for it to echo back. Knowing where the spare key was, he bent over to the nearest bush to look for a specific rock. Underneath, he found the key lodged inside a tailored indentation.

Opening the front door with a strange creak, Shinichi saw dust mites flying through the agitated air. He coughed lightly as he walked through the empty corridors. The house was empty of all signs of life, white sheets covered furnitures on the ground floor. Shinichi walked over to the mantle of the fireplace where it was littered with various frames. There were signs that they have been moved, and by Shinichi's count several were taken away. He remembered there were a number of photos featuring himself and Kaito together placed on the mantelpiece, framed in a wireframe made by Kaito's hands. A majority of them were gone from its home, leaving photos of Kaito behind.

"Kaito." Shinichi took the one featuring Kaito in a fetching suit, obviously taken during a performance of some sort. The Kaito in the picture had his hands raised as doves flew around him, showering confetti on the magician. Shinichi hugged the frame and photo, bowing over as he tries to regather his emotions.

With a deep intake of air, Shinichi carried the frame with him as he continued to explore the empty house on his bare feet. His instincts led him up the stairs and instead of heading directly to Kaito's room, he tried the master suite hoping to see Chikage sitting there. Unfortunately, he was met with an empty room with the bed covered in white sheets. It was obvious that the room had not been used lately. He quietly closed the room and headed for the other bedroom across the hall.

Shinichi's hands hovered over the doorknob, suddenly fearing what laid beyond. He squeezed his eyes shut as he pushed the door open.

It too had its furniture covered with white cloths. Shinichi noted how the large picture of Kuroba Toichi had been carefully wrapped with the cloth. Walking over, he tore the cloth off, it fell in a rustling heap by his feet.

"Toichi-san…" He touched the picture reverently. "Tell me it's not true…" His fingers made its way to the hidden switch to unlock the doorway towards the Kaitou lair. The painting swung open, a ladder clearly visible for Shinichi to climb down.

Carefully and ignoring the digging rungs on the soles of his feet, he descended down the ladder into the dark cave-like room. He had to fumble around slightly for a switch to turn on the light. What he saw had more than frightened him.

The room was completely empty of everything.

Shinichi turned to look at where there should be a jukebox only to find a pale rectangle on the ground where it used to stand. He looked to where there should be a cupboard holding the various copies of the KID suit only to find empty railings. The large space where a car was once parked now showed the bitumen underneath. Shinichi walked to the furthest end that had another ladder, thankfully it was still there, and inspected its safety. He climbed upwards, a longer climb than before as it led towards the aviary.

Bright sunlight shone through as opposed to the dark cave. There were several stray white feathers by Shinichi's feet. There was a rustling of feathers up above him and Shinichi took note of the beady eyes in his direction. One particular dove flew from its perch and landed on Shinichi's shoulder. He recognised this dove.

"Tama-chan?" He stroked the soft feathers. "Where's...where did they go?" Shinichi took a quick count of the remaining birds, there was only six left of the many flocks that Kaito kept. It was as though they were too stubborn to leave this place.

Tama-chan cooed softly, rubbing at Shinichi's cheeks, before calling out for the other birds. One by one, they flew down to nuzzle at Shinichi's cheeks before finding a perch somewhere closeby. Only Tama-chan remained situated on his shoulders.

"Did...Did Chikage-san take them because...because…" Shinichi's breath hitched as everything became all too real. He fell onto the ground, tears flowing down without a care as he hunched over as though to hide from the world. The doves sensed his distressed and came flying closer, settling nearby so they could nuzzle at Shinichi.


	18. Deadeye

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Seeing as there were no requests, it's back to the original cliches & tropes (thank you Internet for supplying me with endless lists)

* * *

 **18 Deadeye**

 _Whenever there are guns involved (i.e. in a shootout) the criminals would always have near to unlimited number of bullets but horrible aim. The protagonist would have to, using the single bullet left in the gun's chamber, pull off an impossible stunt to escape the rain of bullets (and subsequently apprehend the final boss)._

As Kaito pulled Shinichi along the corridor at running speed, he kept an eye out on a defensible hiding place. They only needed to last long enough until the police arrive.

"Remind me why we're running from these unsavoury people again?" Kaito panted, turning a sharp corner and up the stairs, dragging the slowing detective. Together, they had been running for the better part of ten minutes and Kaito had a feeling that Shinichi had been trying to escape from these persistent chasers for longer than that.

"Kidnapping gone wrong. Chased the culprit, was discovered and chased back." Shinichi reply slightly out of breath. "Ran into you as you came out of the bakery, hurriedly dragged you away because we look too much alike and did not want to chance it."

"Brilliant plan Meitantei." Sarcasm dripped out of Kaito's mouth. "You do know that I could have easily taken them down. Of course, that was before your criminal decided to call in reinforcement and had cut us off in our path. AND not forgetting they are armed to the nines." He remembered being slightly confused when the detective pulled him along the pedestrian path, cutting through alleyways where possible. They arrived at an empty office building, the kind where it was scheduled to be taken down soon but they have yet to put the hoarding on. Kaito had made quick work of the lock and ran up (for KID always went up for his escape). Unfortunately, the criminals somehow foresaw this and set up an ambush, leading to lead flying around and nicking the pair every so often. Though, the worst of the bullets only tore their clothing, nothing serious. But it was concerning that they even have guns to begin with.

"Yea yea. Whatever." Kaito felt Shinichi's strength dwindling and knew they had to find somewhere to rest. Exiting the staircase, Kaito ran along the dark concrete corridors towards an abandoned office. The walls looked sturdy enough and there was even a heavy steel desk with several cabinets inside the room. However, one of the criminals had been waiting for them (Kaito thinks the criminal was trying to hide so that he would not have to run around) and managed to surprise them. A quick blast of sleeping gas (Kaito never leaves home without at least one full canister of the thing, much like how Shinichi always brought his tranquilizer watch with him everywhere) and the criminal was down for the count. As Shinichi made a full body search (and Kaito was slightly peeved at how thorough the detective was being, patting down inch by inch of clothing. He wanted to be him that the detective was feeling up, not some nobody destined for the jailhouse) Kaito secured the hands and feet of the criminal.

"Found anything?" Kaito asked when Shinichi stopped his action. He pulled the criminal off to the side, hidden behind a filing cabinet. Kaito took the time to pull one down to act as a stopper for the door as he busied himself to barricading them inside the relatively defensible room.

"A gun and that's it." Shinichi pulled out the magazine and scowled, "what the hell?! It's not even fully loaded. What type of criminal carries around a near-empty gun?"

"Well, you have a 'no kill' policy so it should do you some good shouldn't it?" Kaito patted Shinichi on the shoulders. "We could stay here for a while. How long did the police say they would take to arrive?"

"Ten minutes at least, fifteen at most." The scowl was replaced by a pointed look towards the criminal, one that said Shinichi would give the man a talk down about what was acceptable criminal behaviour after said man woke up.

"So we just need to hold fort for another five minutes? That should be ok…" However, Kaito spoke too soon as wisps of smoke emerged from the small gap between the floor and the door. "Oh good grief. Really? Are they risking arson alongside kidnapping and murdering charges?"

"Don't forget two counts on attempted murder." Shinichi pointed between them. "Any ideas Great Escape Artist?"

"I may be a magician, but even situations like these are difficult to pull of a miracle. Besides, this is your area of expertise. You know, escaping from life-threatening situations and criminals." Even though he complained, he was busily examining the room for alternate escape routes. He looked at the windows speculatively, weighing the possibility of climbing up towards the roof or down towards the ground. There was a tree nearby, just slightly short of the floor they were hiding in but close enough for a line to be tied. He took out the grappling gun and shot it towards the closest branch, it tangled itself once all the energy from the projection had been used up. Tying off the line on his end, he tested the line's strength.

"I chase criminals more than trying to run away from them." Shinichi muttered, carefully kicking the cabinet towards the doorway so that it can block out some of the smoke. He was surprised that the water sprinkler system is still turned off. Glancing behind at the bound criminal, there was no way the pair could escape the floor by themselves and leave the man to be burned to crisps.

"The man's tied up pretty well so I can just...let him glide along the line towards relative freedom?" Kaito looked hopefully at Shinichi who grimaced but still nodded at the idea. At least that was one possible casualty out of the way.

"I think we can chance running out into the corridor. The smoke's not too bad right now so we still have a bit of time for a dash for the roof. I'm hoping we won't encounter anyone." Shinichi eyed the now secured man slowly gliding along the taut wire towards the tree. He only came to a stop when the head bumped into the trunk. Shinichi hoped it left a rather memorable bruise.

"I don't see any other option, unless you also want to glide to freedom? Though the wire is not exactly designed to hold three people. Two adults would be ok, but adding on the extra person, we might plummet towards the concrete." They were on the fifth floor, not high enough to cause death but definitely high enough to cause serious injuries and Kaito felt their chance of escape with two broken legs is very slim. "I do have my hang-glider, and it's been redesigned recently to hold two people quite comfortably."

"Let me guess. The Professor volunteered? Have you tested it before?" Shinichi was weary of the inventor's products, half of them were great and works on first try but the other half (especially involving fire of some form) tends to explode upon activation. He hoped this would not be the case.

"Nope~" His voice was just too happy which left Shinichi with a grimace. "It's more fun this way~"

Shinichi gave Kaito a deadpan stare before shaking his head. There is no point in arguing at this moment in time, especially not with an impending fire.

Bracing themselves, they flung open the door. Lady Luck seems to have her eyes elsewhere as in front of them were several tin buckets filled with wood chips, all producing enough smoke to turn the place into a smokehouse. The pair knew they have been had and quickly hid on either side of the door just when bullets began to fly.

"How many do you think you can take down?" Kaito asked with a hint of expectation. He did not have much at his disposal, maybe one firecracker, several of those sticky bombs that would glue people into place, a small box of paperclips, and ample duct tape, plastic cord, and rubber bands.

"Don't have high expectations from me. I might be a sharpshooter, but a single bullet is all that's left in the magazine." Shinichi continued muttering about the uselessness of a gun without bullet as Kaito contemplated the pros and cons of hauling their apprehended criminal to be used as either a) hostage or b) human shield. Neither options were good for them.

With mere eye signals, Shinichi managed to communication to Kaito to take a look out into the corridor with him in the sparse seconds when their assaulters reload their weapon. They waited patiently until the gunshots slowed to which the pair took a quick peek.

"How many from your side?" Shinichi asked as he ducked back behind the wall once more.

"None. I only saw the two tin buckets and a lot of smoke. Though...What did you see from your end?" Kaito had an idea, a very absurd idea but with his current inventory, it should work.

"Four, no five guards, two of those smoking tin buckets, a stairway in the far end, a door on the other side of the corridor diagonally opposite this one, two ceiling sprinklers with one within a meter from here and another further away, and a rubbish bin a few meters down."

"O...k…" Kaito looked strangely at Shinichi, how could he take in so much detail with such a brief glance was quite fascinating for him. "I think we can work with that. You can shoot right? How about something this size?" Kaito produced the single firecracker he had on his person.

"From how far away?" Shinichi eyed the small red tubular object from afar.

"Here to the first sprinkler." Kaito ducked briefly out once more, looking towards the direction Shinichi had been viewing. A bullet whizzed passed the side, not even close to his face but he would not risk it. "I'll lob this over and you shoot it when it's directly under the sprinkler. It should have enough heat to activate the sprinkler."

"Then what?" Shinichi checked the gun once more, taking out the magazine before putting it back in.

"Then I throw down these beauties. Normally, they would just become sticky, glueing the victim's footwear to the ground. However, a side effect of all those chemicals is that if it is in contact with liquid, it emits this dense smoke with a strange irritating smell." Kaito was not sure whether it could be termed as a hazard but he knew that before he spring these particular bombs on his Task Force, he would have to refine them.

"Right. Whenever you're ready then. We don't really have much choice."

"On the count of three."

They simultaneously took in a deep breath then Kaito was the first to duck out of their hiding place. The criminals immediately began shooting, though all their bullets missed by a wide margin. Shinichi, however, took his time to aim at the firecracker and shot it dead center. The sprinklers came on, raining dirty water onto the floor. Without waiting, Shinichi sprinted towards the staircase, hearing the pitter-patter from Kaito's feet (for he was not bothering with hiding the sounds of his footsteps) only a fraction of a second later. When he was at the staircase, he dared to look back only to be confronted by thick grey smoke.

"See? What did I tell you?" Kaito smiled, his grin too wide and too mischievous but still very endearing. Shinichi's heart made a sudden jump before he forcefully calmed himself down. "They do make good lab subjects wouldn't you say?"

With a joyous laugh, Kaito overtook Shinichi to run up the staircase. On the way, they were met by another criminal, this time knocked out courtesy of a well place kick from Shinichi. Kaito made quick work of securing him to a nearby pipe (with ample amounts of duct tape) and pickpocketed the man, relieving him of the walkie-talkie. He dialed into the frequency, finally hearing something other than static. It was only then when they discovered they had just taken down the head-honcho of this group of misfits.

"Well, at least that's one job done." Kaito commented as Shinichi went about for another thorough check. "But where's your kidnapper-slash-murderer?"

"Not sure but he'll probably still be inside the building. All we have to do is escape it and lock the front doors. Seeing as there's no actual impending fire, we can safely leave them in here until the police arrive."

And they did just then. They abseiled down the roof using the small length of rope (Shinichi really did not want to chance the Professor's invention in such a situation) and secured the doors. They continuously walked around the perimeter and monitor the radio for signs of escape. When the police arrived, they were stunned at how casually the pair stood.

"We'll leave it to you then Megure-keibu." Shinichi greeted the moment he saw the stout inspector exit out of the car. "We'll be heading back now. We'll come by tomorrow afternoon for our statements."

"Uh...right. Kudo-kun, job well done." Megure nodded as he made a motion for his officers to storm the building. Shinichi made a quick exit with Kaito wrapped around the waist, walking purposefully towards the flimsy fence.

"Don't _I_ deserve some form of recognition?" Kaito asked with his indigo eyes looking pitifully at Shinichi. Knowing what the magician wanted, Shinichi lowered his head and pressed his own chapped lips to Kaito's. Kaito nibbled at Shinichi's lower lips, tongue poking and asking for entrance. They did not even care that they were in the middle of the road where pedestrians could easily spot them.

It was several (long) moments before they broke out of hold, with Shinichi's lips slightly bruised and Kaito panting with short puffs.

"Is that good enough for you?" Shinichi asked, wiping at the wetness on the edge of Kaito's lips with his own thumb.

"Hm...I'd like to think you could thank me better." Kaito said with a teasing tone. "I look forward to collecting my full payment for my services."


	19. Uniforms

**Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

Warning II: Hints of mature content

A/N: There were requests! YAY! I'll be getting onto those shortly. In the meantime, this should satisfy you readers for now... Also, just realised that it might be a bit mature? MIGHT being the keyword seeing as it's not really _mature_ mature, just...a hint of it I guess? It is edging towards dangerous territory though...

* * *

 **19 Uniforms**

 _Regardless of physical characteristics, stolen clothing (or clothes taken forcibly from a stranger) always fit and it also happens to be just the right disguise for the occasion._

Shinichi did a double take as he opened the door to the gallery. His eyes widen at the sight of the gentleman thief hovering over a slumped figure in the middle of the room as though contemplating the fallacies of life.

"Did you degenerate to mugging and killing now?" Shinichi lean against the nearby wall, casually tucking his hands into his pant pockets.

KID reacted badly with the card gun whipping up and instantly aiming for Shinichi's heart. He held up his hands in surrender.

"I didn't mean to alarm you." He called out, walking further into the light, bringing him closer to the thief.

"Oh, it's only you." KID was quick to dismiss Shinichi, with his focus now honed on to the slumped figure. "You did not buy into my tricks I take it."

"They were too easily spotted." Shinichi shrugged awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. "What on Earth are you doing?" His brows twitched at how KID easily stripped the unfortunate victim on the ground. He had to wonder how the thief managed to subdue a person who looked to be as round as Megure and as tall as Shiratori. There was no way he could have sprayed the man with sleeping gas. "Did you taser him?" He could still remember the way KID stunned Conan way back many heists ago.

"Um….no?" The voice and the smirk meant that the thief probably did just then. Shinichi gave him a condescending look. "Alright, ok. I did. But I adjusted the voltage so he's ok. Plus he's not exactly…accessible you know."

"Humph." Shinichi crossed his arms. "So? What now? Do you want me to start chasing?" Though to be honest, Shinichi would rather just stay and watch at the meticulousness the thief was employing to extract every piece of clothing. Even though there was a twinge of _something_ scraping at his heart telling him he should kick the victim out the way and stop the thief from paying so much attention to an unconscious body.

"If you want. Though I'd rather you turn around and out the door this moment, pretend to fall for one of my tricks for a few more minutes, then come back." KID gave a backwards wave with the hand holding a multi-colored necktie.

"So you don't want me to see you in disguise or something?" Shinichi stayed his position, only relaxing slightly as he watched the show.

"Oh? Are you really this _kinky_?" KID angled his head just so, where the light from the roof window hit on his face at just the right angle that made him look like a ethereal being, like the phantom that his namesake was, with the pale outline and sharp eyes. It nearly took Shinichi's breath away.

"No." He said defiantly, without an ounce of believability if what KID's face was suggesting.

"Suit yourself."

KID stood up to face Shinichi as he removed his white jacket. Ever. So. Slowly. To the point where Shinichi wanted to urge the thief to move faster (or help him to remove it, either way was fine by Shinichi). The hat managed to stay on his head as he removed his tie and belt, untucking his blue shirt. Those items were quickly dropped onto the floor. A smirk played on KID's face, most likely because he saw the small pink tinge on Shinichi's face (Shinichi felt heat actually rising on his face, his heartbeat picked up a strange staccato rhythm loud enough that he thought KID must have heard). KID moved his hand to the collar button of his shirt, undoing it with graceful hands and slow motion. He moved methodically down. With each button released, the shirt opened an inch and by the time KID finished with the last button, a large amount of skin was revealed. Shinichi was surprised to see the ruggedness of muscle underneath those form-fitting clothes. He swallowed dryly, licking his lips as his eyes traced each inch of skin. When his blue eyes rested on KID's face, he saw a wider smirk than before.

"Enjoying it much?" KID commented to Shinichi's scowl that was badly disguising the the twinkling interest hidden underneath the murky depths of sapphire eyes.

Shinichi had a feeling he should either be dropping high numeric bills into a slotted box or tucking it into the loose waistband that was currently exposed as the trousers dropped that centimeter lower. KID ignored the way blue eyes zoomed into the white material and began to unbutton the single silver stud of his trousers before lowering the zipper. He let the trouser hang onto his hips as he bent over to retrieve the unconscious man's shirt and draped in on his shoulders. The material hung loosely on the pale flesh, draping artistically like a painting worthy of the Louvre. Internally, Shinichi thought KID himself is a work of art to be secured in a basement (or safe room, or somewhere without any form of window or natural light) with no other eyes but himself admiring the structure and flexing of muscles. Each movement made by the thief was enticing as the last, as though KID was designed to be eternally admired and perhaps a lucky few would have the chance to touch it (though never own it, which is quite unfortunate for Shinichi would take extra care to keep KID in a pristine condition, chained up somewhere where people could not sully such beauty).

During his daydreaming, KID had slipped his arms through the sleeves of the overly large shirt, cuffs hanging cutely beyond the wrist. The long length meant that the shirt looked more like a dress on the slim thief. It just so happens that when the thief had button up half the length of the shirt, his trousers slipped free, revealing the pale long legs underneath. Shinichi could wait no longer and stalked up to within a step of the thief. He took hold of the shoulders, almost in a painful grasp, and KID peered through his lashes to look up at Shinichi. Even with the rim of the hat casting shadows on KID's face, the indigo eyes lit up like a flame. Without giving the thief chance to make any snarky comments (or innuendos) Shinichi covered the supple pink flesh with his own. He tasted the outside of the strangely smooth lips, recognising chocolate and mint instantly, before asking for entrance. KID was happy to comply but being the annoying thief that he was, he only opened it to a slight sliver that Shinichi's tongue was blocked by the pearly whites that he knew could shine even in the darkest of nights. However, Shinichi was not the type to beg in such cases. Instead, he played around the gums, giving featherlight touches with his slick appendage, nipping the now thoroughly swollen lips with his teeth. KID did not last long, he quickly opened his mouth and moaned into Shinichi, who swallowed the sound like a dehydrated man.

When they pulled apart, KID's lips were slick and shiny, coated bright red from Shinichi's ministration. The thief puffed and breathed heavily, pupils blown wide.

"Well, I'll let you change in peace now." Thoroughly satisfied, Shinichi gave KID a once-over look, eyes lingering on the exposed legs and semi-covered hips. "At least those pants are loose fitting on your body. Heaven knows how uncomfortable they might be for you to run up the staircase. I'll give you five minutes, then I'll begin the chase." Shinichi was thankfully not affected by earlier actions and thus was able to give KID a jolly backwards wave as he strode out through the doors of the hall.


	20. Request: Salutations

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I really appreciate you readers for giving me requests/tropes/cliches. It's saving me from succumbing to writer's block (or a slump).

The following is a request from Lady Rosencrantz: "Nobody ever says goodbye on the phone in movies. Sometimes you'll get a hello, but rarely a goodbye."

* * *

 **20 Lady Rosencrantz Request: Salutations**

 _There is a reason why people say 'hello' and 'goodbye', a reason which goes beyond addressing people when they converse_

Shinichi tiredly stumbled into the silent halls of the large and empty house. His parents were once again flying all over the globe now that he was all 'normal' again. After years as Conan, he finally returned to being Shinichi, confessed to Ran and subsequently having air knocked out of his lungs, as well as his wallet emptied because a certain heiress deemed that Shinichi should literally pay for Ran waiting up on him through a very long and very tiring shopping trip. Though today, his tiredness was not a result of a shopping trip. Rather it was a result of his everyday, normal life that included more drama than any mid-afternoon TV episode.

Fresh out of university, he managed to secure himself as a permanent consultant for TMPD and having his own side business as a PI. He did not have to worry about rent seeing as he lived at their family house. But he did not live alone. During his first year of university, he met a rather intriguing character, a certain retired thief who stumbled into him in an empty corridor, complete with a bed head and bleary eyes. Of course, Shinichi picked him out in an instant and for some really odd reason, they hit it off and became the best of friends.

Though Shinichi would have liked it if they were not just 'best of friends' but possibly 'something more'. He had, after all, developed a rather 'unhealthy obsession', as Ran would like to call it, with a certain individual. It seemingly having been nurtured into fruition since his Conan days, not that he noticed it himself.

So when that certain retired thief asked to bunk with him in a shared apartment, Shinichi immediately said yes. They moved out the moment they completed their courses and Shinichi decided to invite him to live in this lonely, empty, dark and dreary house. Said thief moved in, livened up Shinichi's life, and made a rather permanent place for himself in Shinichi's life as well.

Though all that was temporarily out of reach for now as said thief, now full-time magician, is away at the moment. If Shinichi remembered correctly, he should be in Kyoto doing his show.

For now, Shinichi wanted nothing more than to flop down onto his soft mattress and succumb to sleep. He had been awake for over 36 hours (and counting) chasing after a serial killer, then a kidnapper, and finally another accidental murder that he happened to chance upon. 36 hours and 3 cases had Shinichi use up all his extra energy, especially since the eternally energetic magician was away, taking away all Shinichi's energy with him at the same time.

Because of his lethargy and general tiredness, Shinichi did not bother to plug in his phone or check the messages on the landline. He fell asleep, still in his suit, slumped over half off his bed.

The next time his consciousness returned, daylight was breaking. He knew he had slept more than a few hours and he suspected he fell into a coma-like sleep for more than a day. He wondered why no one came to rouse him up for Ran would often come by to remind him to eat, Haibara would stop by every now and then just to check if he was alive. Then there were calls, the many many calls from the police for his solicitation at cases. Not to mention his mother had taken to calling up every other day to discuss the latest gossip (or his father's non-existent betrayal or something equally absurd), sales people randomly calling up his mobile, avid fans who somehow would manage to find his phone number, and other potential clients (or just 'people' in general) calling up about cases.

Struggling from his bed, half aching because of his strange sleeping posture, Shinichi staggered away from the bed towards a warm shower and a change of clothes. He grab his mobile before heading down to the kitchens for a bite to eat. Though when he unlocked it, the screen would not light up. He tapped the screen, pushed the various buttons (four, only four buttons now that there's no dial pad, he had to wonder whether the phone would do away with buttons altogether), and in the end, found it to be out of battery. Hurriedly, he rushed towards the library for the charger, knowing that Kaito would call sometime soon seeing as they have not made contact in such a long time.

It had only been a year since they officially moved in together and somehow, Kaito had taken up personal interest in Shinichi's health and well-being, much to Shinichi's distaste but to the likings of Haibara for she finally found a 'partner-in-crime' to help take care of "a seemingly wayward detective" as the little (demon) scientist liked to call him. Kaito would ensure Shinichi would eat at the correct time, rest regularly, and stick to a normal sleeping schedule, which meant calling up every other day just to make sure. Though, that is not to say Shinichi did not enjoy those calls, far from it, he looked forward to them. So it was kind of surprising not have to received a single word from him for the duration of his sleep coma.

Once his mobile had detected the charger, Shinichi decided to leave it plugged in for a while before switching on. He walked out towards the landline and played back the messages on voicemail.

" _Shin-chan!_ " His mother's voice was heard clearly along with a smooth jazz background. Shinichi had to wonder which hotel hall his mother was calling from. He remembered them saying they were in New York last but maybe they moved to another site already? " _I just couldn't believe your father! We were at the book signing this afternoon and then this woman came up, lean over and started talking_ softly _! And your father! He didn't even take the precaution! He just let her!_ " Her rant continued and Shinichi ignored most of her complaints about about the "indignity of being left alone to sit on the sidelines and left to watch the outrageous behaviour". She ended the call with " _well, we're going to head back to LA for a short while. Or at least your father would. I'm going to the airport and head to Europe in an hour so if your father calls, don't tell him ok?_ "

Shinichi could not help but shake his head. "At least she's not coming back…" He comforted himself. As much as he loved his parents, having his mother visit him for an extended amount of time generally means an increase in the consumption of painkillers and highly caffeinated beverages. Speaking of, he really should have the coffee percolator started. Despite having slept for more than a full day, his body was still craving for the caffeinated substance.

Letting the voice mail machine run in the background to offer some sort of sound to the otherwise quiet and silent house, he measured the correct amount of coffee powder and poured in water. He laid a mug down onto the bench, waiting patiently for his drink as he listened to Ran's recorded voice.

" _Shinichi? You forgot to charge your phone again didn't you,_ " she stated. Shinichi could not help but smile at how his childhood friend seems to know him so well. " _Not that it matters much. I heard from Satou-san that you were stuck on a long series of cases and had been living off coffee and saltine biscuits. I'm going to be stopping over sometime today and leave some food inside your fridge so you better eat them._ " Seeing as the message was left yesterday afternoon, Shinichi figured he should open the fridge to check. Sure enough, there was a plastic box sitting on the central shelf along with a wide selection of fruits on the shelf below. " _I also brought you some groceries as well. Wouldn't want you to starve yourself. Especially since Kuroba-kun had managed to fatten you up_." Shinichi self consciously looked at his reflection on the kitchen windows before poking at his midsections. There was not an ounce of fat on him so he had to wonder why Ran was saying that. " _Anyways, just wanted to tell you Sonoko wanted to see when you'd be free. She's planning for a friendly getaway I think. Ask Kuroba-kun as well when he comes back. After all, the more the merrier._ " Shinichi sighed along with the spluttering from the coffee percolator. Why had the heiress still not learnt that inviting Shinichi along is more akin to inviting trouble to crash into their relaxation time. Still, even a man of steel would be bent to Ran's demands and Shinichi was already going through his mental calendar to see which date would be best.

A resounding beep from the message machine stated the end of Ran's message. Shinichi figured she ran out of time on the tape and was automatically cut. He made a note to call back later, after coffee and having eaten what she left in his fridge just in case she asks, to check-in with her. Ever since his return, his childhood friend had been afraid he would disappear again and had demanded for him to talk to her at least once a day, baring exception circumstances like coming home to a 36-hour crime-solving marathon.

The voice from the next message brought another smile to Shinichi's face. But unlike the one he had when Ran's message played, which was more of a content warmth and nostalgia, this one held a hint of fondness and longing.

" _Morning sleep head, did you sleep well?_ " He wondered what it was in the magician's voice that brought a sense of content in him. He lean on the counter, with the mug of coffee in his hands, as he listened to the melodious narration of the magician. " _I called your mobile but it said unavailable so I figured you must either be busy or left the phone at home, probably uncharged as well. It's been such a long time since we last talked and...well…there's something I wanted to tell yo-_ " His sentence was cut off abruptly, followed by a sudden bout of silence before a crash, rushed footsteps and muffled voices that sounds suspiciously like shouting or an argument. Shinichi unconsciously clutched tighter on the fragile mug, anticipating and wishing for Kaito to respond. What came through were loud sounds, like something hitting on a hard surface, something falling over. There was a crash somewhere in the midst as well before everything seemed to be muffled and cut off with a beep.

Shinichi did not know when his feet started moving, but he was already upstairs in his room searching for his wallet and some suitable outside clothing. He at least had the mind to pick up his barely charged mobile from the library before exchanging his mug of coffee for a pair of sneakers by the doorway. The answering machine was still playing messages as he quickly slipped on the footwear, but he ignored the content in favour of hurrying. He ran out the door, ignoring the various greetings along the way. He took a rapid train towards Tokyo station before running in the direction for the JR counter to buy a ticket to Kyoto.

"A ticket to the earliest train down to Kyoto." He demanded, slamming down a credit card on the counter, startling the poor woman tending at the time.

"Um…" There was brief hesitance before the rapid click of a keyboard. "We do have seats for the train departing in half an hour. But they're first class seats…"

"I don't mind." He pushed forward the black platinum card his parents left him a year back. He doubted either would mind him spending the money. After all, this is an emergency.

With the transaction over, Shinichi walked briskly towards the platform in question. He debated whether he should call the police department down at Kyoto just in case but thought otherwise. It would be best if he could confirm his suspicions first. Just hearing possible sounds of confrontation is not cause enough to send the police. He had to be sure.

The train arrived on time, like all other forms of transportation in Japan, everything painfully punctual and timed to the last second. He spared no thought to board the train only to be bowled over by another individual rushing out. The pair of them collapsed onto the hard ground, with Shinichi squashed between the warm body and cold concrete.

"I'm so sorr-." The person in front of him tries to reply then suddenly stopped mid sentence. "Shinichi?" The voice sounded all too surprised and Shinichi finally looked up at the face who crashed into him.

"Kaito?" Equally surprised, Shinichi accepted the hand that helped him up. Long elegant fingers brushed against his head and hair, intent on looking for bumps and lumps indicating an injury. Only when he found none did Kaito sigh in relief and took a step back.

"Hey there." He answered with a blinding smile. Hand retreating back into his pockets. "Where are you heading off to? Can I join?"

"Kaito!" This time, it was Shinichi's turn to pat down the magician. "Are you hurt anywhere? You're not hiding anything are you?"

"Calm down Shinichi. You're too much of a lightweight to cause me any injury." He smiled in that sweet and endearing way that made Shinichi nearly melt on spot.

"No! Not that. The call!" Shinichi frantically took hold of Kaito's shoulders. "The crash, then the shouting! Then the muffling and more crashing!"

It took a while for Kaito to process the disjointed words. "Shinichi," Kaito said after a moment. The train that took him here was already sounding its bell to signal it would be leaving. It did not look like Shinichi was all that intent on boarding the train so Kaito took another stab in the dark. "Which call are you referring to? Did you even listen to all the messages?"

"I heard," Shinichi started slowly, moving a step away with a small blush of embarrassment on his face, "your wake up call…"

"And? What about after?" Kaito led them over towards a set of seats, away from the sudden throng of people rushing towards the soon-to-leave train. He made the decision to look for a more private location just out of immediate sight.

"Um…" Looking down to stare at his shoes which suddenly became very interesting. "I may have been a tad bit distracted…"

"So, you didn't hear how I was coming back early did you? Didn't hear my last show was cancelled at the last moment and I thought I might come back to take a short break before needing to head further down south."

"Um….no…" Shinichi looked up hopefully at Kaito. "So, you're going to stay in Beika?"

"Most of the time. I do want a break. Though I might head down to Ekoda to see Aoko." Kaito deliberately paused, not too sure how to proceed. There was something he wanted to say, something he hinted at during his many other calls (after the catastrophical one that Shinichi somehow misinterpreted). He steeled himself before asking, "would you...like to come with me?"

"I do have the time." Shinichi would quickly shuffled some of his schedule around, making a mental note to message Inspector Megure and some of his clients about the sudden change.

"I...I actually wanted to mean like...afterwards. Like, if you'd like to come with me...on my tour…." The insecurity was clearly visible with his shuffling feet. It was uncommon for Kaito to feel anything but confident, though in the presence of Shinichi, all that seems to have flown out the door.

"You mean…" There was hope lacing the voice.

"Yea...I'd love for you to come with me." Kaito took up Shinichi's pale hand, the lack of colour of having to constantly wear a pair of gloves (a special pair of gloves that Kaito gifted the detective a few years back to help him in his investigation. Apparently, the detective have a small latex reaction so Kaito had procured a several pairs of white cotton ones that were similar to his KID ones). Kaito lifted the hand up to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss on the back of the hand.

"Kaito." There was a sigh as Shinichi lean in close, forehead to forehead as he took hold of Kaito's own hands. "I'd love to." Leaning further in, Shinichi briefly rested his own lips onto Kaito's.

A strange giggle bubbled up from within Kaito. "OK." He answered pulling them into a tight hug. "OK."

While there were things that were unanswered for Shinichi, like the strange crash and the angered shouts and all those in between, but Shinichi would rather savour the warm they were sharing.


	21. Request: A series of unfortunate events

**-Clichés & Tropes -**

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: More requests! YAY! Also, it's been slow writing these days...

The following is a request from Ceres2412: "You know when one of the protagonists says 'it can't come worse' Lady Destiny proof them wrong and some important devise broke down."

* * *

 **21 Ceres2412 Request: A series of unfortunate events (and maybe one not so unfortunate)**

 _There is always a silver lining on the darkest of days_

Kaito turned around, tossing the blanket aside as he did so. He grumbled when he felt sunlight on his face, all the while wondering why it was so bright when he distinctly remember having pulled shut the curtains. Blearily, he turned to face the light only to find one of his many doves staring straight into his face.

"AH!" He cried, scrambling slightly away in fear. No matter how cute they were, when up close, they do look rather menacing. Especially when he was half asleep.

"Alakazam." He muttered as he palmed his forehead and lean further into his pillow. "You scared me…"

Alakazam only chirped merrily, scooting closer to his face and nudged softly against his cheeks.

"Fine, I'll accept this apology." He patted the small head gently, stroking the soft feathers. Alakazam is one of his younger doves, ones that he considered to be still in-training. Though Alakazam, along with a few others, may not be a magician's (and hence a Phantom Thief's) assistant, they were still quite promising as they are smarter than the average bird.

Off in the distance came another trill.

"Izzy Wizzy…" He slowly sat up to look at the second bird, who cocked her head to the side looking oh-so innocently. Kaito would have let out an 'aw' if he had not notice the time on the clock face, which conveniently read 10:30. He swore loudly, with vocabulary so colourful that would make a certain inspector blush thrice over. He repeatedly looked between the bird and the alarm clock.

"Did you press the alarm button?" He asked after letting out a calming breath (and subsequently counting to an absurdly high number). In his mind, he kept repeating the words 'keep calm' so that he would not blow up at his birds and scare them.

Izzy Wizzy cocked her head to another side before letting out trill as though she was proud of her achievement. Kaito really should not blame her seeing as the first trick he taught was to press buttons on command. And having yelled at his own alarm clock one too many times, the bird must have mistaken it for a command.

Not wanting to waste another moment, he quickly dressed himself and rushed off to his morning ablutions. Before running out the door, he took a minute out of his routine to make sure the aviary had all the necessary water and food for all his doves. To his surprise, he found both the secret hatch leading to the aviary and the chute leading outdoors to have been slammed shut.

"Alakazam, Izzy Wizzy…" He groaned. Both birds dutifully landed on his shoulders before cooing for attention. He had the funny feeling that these two doves were the culprit behind it all. However, he did not have time to reprimand the two birds on his shoulders.

He arrived at the classroom at 11:20, with just 40 minutes left of the morning classes. He was about to knock and interrupt the class when the door mysteriously opened in front of him.

He groaned internally before wondering just how bad the day could go for him.

"Kuroba-kun." His teacher addressed him in a rathered leveled tone of voice. It made both Kaito and the two doves on his shoulders gulp loudly in response.

"Yes sensei?" He tried the formal and overly polite approach, hoping to gain a bit of leeway. Kaito could practically feel the flower he had stashed up inside his sleeves wilted at the teacher's stern voice.

"You're late for your mid-term exams." She stated without any preamble. Kaito let out a small 'eep'. "Under normal circumstances, I would give you a fail but I'm feeling generous."

Though Kaito highly doubts that but he was not about to argue. It was nearly an unspoken rule to never keep Kaito in a detention, or heaven forbid repeat a year, lest the teachers want to suffer an eternal migrain. Still, Kaito kept as still as he can to hear what sort of makeup test he would have to take in order to pass.

"You have 30 minutes to finish off the exams your peers have started since the beginning of the day."

The moment the words left his teacher's mouth, Kaito rushed over to his seat and began turning over the papers. His classmates paid him a split second of attention before returning to their own work. Only Aoko's gaze and Hakuba's scrutiny remained on his back for nearly a full minute but even then Kaito paid it no mind.

When the teacher announced time was up, Kaito felt as though his wrist had suffered damage due to frantic writing. He did manage to write in answers for every single question, even though he had skipped a lot of the in-between steps.

"Kaito." Aoko was the first to approach his desk that he had taken to physically merge with. "Why were you late?"

"Alakazam, Alarm, Izzy Wizzy." Kaito mumbled as he snuggled further into his arms, not wanting to face the crummy day he was having.

"Did Kuroba-kun just spout off a series of magic words?" Hakuba's skeptical voice was as annoying as ever and Kaito was quick to voice out his opinion, which was merely replied with a raise of eyebrow.

"For your information, they are my birds." Kaito clarified, pointing at the two birds now resting on his desk instead of his shoulders. At the mention of their name, they launched themselves into the air and flew in a perfect circle before landing on both of Kaito's shoulders.

"What did the pair of them do?" Aoko approached the pair of seemingly well behaved birds, offering both a belly rub.

"They both decided today is the day for them to practice a few…tricks." Kaito answered hesitantly, earning him another raised eyebrow from the rather annoying detective. His hands itched to prank the well-put-together detective. He inconspicuously reached into a hidden pocket of his sleeve to palm a hair dye bomb but before he could throw it out, it decided to spontaneously combust in his hands.

"What the?!" He lifted his palm to his eye level, seeing a range of colours splattered across his skin. His shirt sleeve also suffered damage. The dye stained the white shirt and even managed to colour the dark uniform sleeve. The excess liquid dripped onto the floor, painting a myriad of bright colours onto the tile.

"You're on afternoon duty today right?" Aoko helpfully supplied before pointing at the chalkboard which had Kaito's name written neatly on the side. Kaito let out another groan and lean back onto his seat.

"I think Tanaka-kun is sick today so Kuroba-kun would have to clean the classroom up by himself." Hakuba commented.

"What?!" This particular exclaim from Kaito startled everyone in the room. As one, they turned to give him their full attention. "Where is Tanaka?"

"Um…" A meek yet brave girl lifted her hand up in the air. Kaito recognised her as Tanaka's latest girlfriend from next door, who also happens to be great friends with Tanaka's ex-ex-ex-ex girlfriend (yes, Kaito keeps track of everyone's social engagement on the side, just in case). "He's...um...sick…?"

"Why do you sound so uncertain? Are you hiding him." Kaito stalked towards the girl who had taken to cowering behind one of her friends, who also hid behind her desk.

"KAITO!" Came the shout before a hard whack on his head from a conveniently placed broom by Aoko's side. "Stop intimidating people!" The birds previously on his shoulders had smartly flown off to avoid the hit and have landed on a shelf at the back of the classroom.

"Ahoko! Can't you see I have to get to the bottom of this? It's a matter of life and death!" Kaito rubbed at the sore spot, feeling a bump was just about to form. "And you're supposed to clean things with that, not hit people."

"Well, Aoko is cleaning out Kaito's mind right now so it counts!" She raised the broom up, ready to land another hit.

"A-O-KO!" Kaito leapt and jumped around the room. Unfortunately, his skills seems to have evaded him today as he continuously bumped into bystanders, slipped on desk surfaces, and at one point, managed to hit his own head on the ceiling. He landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor. The only concession being he knew how to fall and thus managing to avoid serious injury.

"Is Kaito alright today?" Aoko rested her broom to the side before reaching out to help Kaito up. "Kaito is behaving strangely."

"Must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed." Hakuba approached them, likely with the intention of returning to his seat. By Kaito's count, breaktime should be over and the afternoon session should be starting soon.

At that moment, Kaito suddenly burst into action.

"I haven't had lunch yet!" He completely forgotten about his meal. And with that declaration, his stomach began to growl. "And I didn't get a chance for breakfast!"

"You have 9 minutes 43 seconds to run down and buy something…"

No sooner had the words left Hakuba's mouth, Kaito was already by the doorway and outside of the classroom.

As he ran down the stairs, his foot slipped on several of the steps and resulting in him ferverantly trying to steady himself on the railings, only for one of them to creak under his weight and snap from its housing. Kaito only suffered a minor cut on his arm instead of having the metal piercing through his limb.

He let out a small whimper as he safely stood on the bottom-most stair, just meters away from the store run by the bread-lady. Kaito approached the trays at the front of the store, only to find it completely and thoroughly empty. "Why must you do this today Lady Luck?" Normally, there would have been _something_ left but today, it seems like every student forgot their lunch and bought everything.

Kaito sighed, it looks more and more like he would not be able to eat a full meal today. What with him having a heist later on in the evening thus leaving him very little time for things like sitting down to eat.

xxxxx

KID looked up at the bright moon, sighing as the gem once more was not the one he was looking for.

"It just couldn't get any worse can it…" He looked down at himself, seeing that his once-pristine white clothes thoroughly stained and coated in a myriad of sparkles and colours. His hair was safe, though that had more to do with it being covered by his top hat. While he wanted to say the night had been thrilling, it was also harrowing.

With the Meitantei back to his 'original self', he was apparently more like a trickster than KID had originally thought. The detective had managed to re-rig all his tricks in a manner that was nearly imperceptible by the thief himself. Sure, many officers still managed to stumble into them, trapping themselves with silly strings and netting. But KID had stumbled into his fair share.

"So," a suave voice came with the squeak from opening the service door, "how'd you like my gift?" The newly entered figure slowly closed the metal door, slipping a door stopper beneath that had KID raising a questioning eyebrow.

"And to what do I owe this particular _gift_ Meitantei?" KID turned to give the detective his full attention. He could never guess what the detective could be planning. KID was on alert, a hand slipping inconspicuously into his pockets for his trusty card gun,

"You don't remember do you…" It was more of a statement rather than a question. But what had KID's focus was the strange downtrodden tone in the detective's voice.

"What am I to have supposedly have forgotten?" KID relaxed his posture slightly. His eyes were keen to pick up the slump in the detective's shoulders as he said the words. He looked between the standing detective, the doorway (and the door stopper), and his chosen point of exit which happens to be the edge of the roof. He slowly calculated the detective's probable reaction time, all the while wondering why the detective chose to _lock_ themselves here on the roof and whether he would be pulling the exact same stunt as Conan did by flinging himself off the building's edge just to catch KID.

"Doesn't matter." He shook his head, walking slightly closer and taking care to make loud steps. KID was sure that, if the detective had wanted, he could be as silent as the thief himself. And quicker too seeing as the detective was trained with speed in mind whereas KID favoured flexibility for his performances. "So, not what you're looking for eh?"

"No, not really. But it is a lovely piece." KID waved his hand in the air and the large carat gem appeared nestled between his middle and fore-fingers. "If you don't mind, I'd appreciate if you can return this for me." He offered the gleaming jewel to the detective just two steps away. Seeing the single nod, KID threw the gem in the detective's direction.

The detective opened his mouth to say something but before any words could be formed, there was a frantic look in his eyes. "KID! Look out!" The detective was rushing towards KID and reflexively, KID took several steps back. In the distance, the gem fell to the ground with a small 'clink' and rested close to the door stopper.

KID ducked behind the ledge, holding his top hat down at the same time when something attempted to knock it off his head. He quickly took it down to eye level to see a small hole at the center. Carefully, he fingered the hole, tracing around the jagged edge. He cursed softly, but rather colourfully, as he sank lower into the crouch.

"Meitantei…" He called out, only to find the detective having fallen flat, facing up, on the rooftop. Said detective was too exposed for his liking and at the same time, too still. "Meitantei?" He tried to call out again, only to receive no response. Fear crept up his spine as the worst case scenario flashed through his mind. He peeked over the ledge, hoping to spot the sniper in the distance. His action drew chips of concrete flying into his face and he ducked back down. Time was of the essence and he just had to check on the safety of the detective.

"What am I doing?" He frowned, mentally berating himself for the indecisiveness. "Meitantei is in danger." He let out a frustrated sound before finally decided to brave the danger. Slowly, he crawled away from his hiding spot towards the downed detective.

Shots came towards him, though strangely enough they missed him by a large margin. His progress was slow but he finally made it to where the detective laid.

KID sighed in relief when he realised there were no pools of blood on the ground. Carefully, he patted the front of the detective's chest, only for his wrists to be grabbed in response. KID's immediate reaction was to struggle away when the grip only strengthen.

"Don't move idiot." The detective mumbled with his eyes still closed. "Just wait."

KID tries to stay still but he had become very much aware of the closeness between them. He was suddenly struck that the detective could easily open his eyes and see his real face. That brought about an instance of panic and he resumed his struggles.

"Stop struggling!" The detective wrapped his other arm around KID, right around the waist, and pulled him close. "Just stay still!"

"Give me a reason." KID answered in a muffled voice, mostly obscured by the detective's jacket.

"Because, they're coordinating an arrest right now and I'm waiting for the signal."

KID was dumbfounded, and left quite out of the loop all of a sudden. He replied the detective with an ineloquent "What?" He could not quite understand how coordinating an arrest meant he should be within the detective's hold but since it was not really taxing for him (and to a certain extent he was enjoying the warmth radiating from the detective. It was a rather cool night and his suit only provides so much warmth) he stayed put.

"You can't expect me not to notice and you really shouldn't think that I won't do anything about it." There was a huff of breath by KID's ear as the hand the rested on his waist tightened a fraction. "I can't bear to see you becoming crow bait."

KID tries to lift himself up, out of curiosity for wanting to see the expression on the detective's face, but the hand on his back quickly moved up to where his head had been. A hand rested on his hair, stroking it lightly before pushing his face back into the fabric. KID only stiffened at the touch for a fraction of a second before relaxing once more.

"And I'm sure you don't want me to see your face right now. Without your top hat, there's no where to hide your features." The detective stated as-a-matter-of-factly, to which KID had to blush slightly at the detective's perceptiveness. He was sure that the colour of his cheeks was matching that of his pink glittery suit.

Thankfully, his moment of embarrassment was short-lived as a sudden ringing tone disturbed the moment. The hand that had been trapped between the pair wriggled out towards the side and into a pocket.

"I take it everything's been taken cared of?" The detective spoke into the mobile. KID could hear a woman's voice from the other end, though the sound was too jumbled to make out any particular words. After what KID assumes to be a long report of some sort, the detective replied with "Thanks then. I'll be sure to drop by" before cutting off the line and returned the mobile to it previous location. "Alright KID, you can get up now. I'll have my eyes closed just in case." The last sentence was said more for KID's benefit even though KID was sure the detective would not be unsportsmanship and look.

Then suddenly, a thought came to KID. Or rather, it came to Kaito. So far, the detective had done nothing to compromise his civilian identity, even going so far as helping him and ensuring the secrecy was kept. Kaito felt warm all over again, this time bubbling from the core of his heart rather than from an external source. He lifted himself up, just ever so slight to see the serene face of the detective underneath the moonlight. Kaito was taken aback at the relaxed look on the face, even though technically the detective was at his mercy.

Wanting some sort of compensation for his rather crummy day (and night), he decided to take a bit of compensation (or consolation prize as it was). He allowed himself to lower his lips onto the detective's own, tasting the small bit of lingering bitterness no doubt from the cup of coffee he saw the detective gulped down just minutes before the start of his heist.

The startled look on the detective's face was rather endearing, with the wide eyes and dilated pupil coupled with a raising red blush that seems to have extended way pass the neckline. Kaito smirked and cocked his head ever so innocently at the questioning gaze.

"What did you do _that_ for?" The detective asked in an incredulous voice, slightly wavering and uneven.

"Hm...I wonder…" Kaito stood up, stretching his arms up ahead. He could feel the detective's eyes roaming all over his body and in particular taking an interest in the slight raise of his shirt as he pulled upwards. There was an audible gulp from the detective as well and Kaito gave himself a mental pat on the back. "Anyways, I think you just made my day that much better. I had a crummy day today but at least you made up for it."

"That's because it's the start of a new day." The detective said as he brushed off the dirt from his clothes. "But as the start of the day goes, this doesn't seem too bad. Perhaps this is a sign, telling you it's going to be a good day today."

"One can only hope Meitantei." Kaito bent to pick up the top hat, lying forgotten on the side and thankfully not blown away in the midnight wind. Again, the intense eyes returned and this time focusing on his backside.

Once Kaito had replaced his hat, he turned back towards the detective. There was just something in those blue sapphire orbs that made it so hard to leave the rooftop at that moment.

"I guess I'll be seeing you around then." The detective said rather reluctantly as he turned to leave. It was rather unusual, for the detective to leave before him/

"Wait!" Kaito called out, hands outstretched to take hold on the detective's wrist. "Are you going to be free in the afternoon? We can...I mean, I won't mind _bumping into you_ in Shibuya at around noon and we can maybe grab coffee or something…?" He blurted out. The abrupt action is rather unlike him as well, but he figured it would not hurt to try and he took the leap. It seems his gamble paid off when the blue eyes practically sparkled and glowed.

"I think I'll be able to make time." He said teasingly. "Perhaps I might make myself visible at the Hachi-ko statue." The way the detective shyly smiled was extremely endearing and Kaito produced a red rose to tuck behind said detective's ears.

"I'll hold you to your word." Kaito brushed the stray strands of hair aside, allowing his hands to cup the ace for a split second before removing himself and take a running jump away from the roof. There was so much to prepare for and there is no more time to waste.

"And I'll hold you to your's Mr Gentleman Thief."

"Overall, not a bad day then." Kaito spoke to Izzy Wizzy and Alakazam who had suddenly appeared to be flying by his side. "Not even the havoc you've caused in the morning seemed all that bad now."

The pair of birds chirped in response, flying in an elaborate pattern around Kaito as they made their way back home.


End file.
